Discovery of the specific inhibitory effect of thiamphenicol on LPS-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in mice through virtual screening and biological evaluation

•Thiamphenicol with the potential to inhibit NE activity for ALI treatment was obtained by virtual screening .•In vivo experiments results showed that TAP could significantly alleviate various symptoms of LPS-induced ALI.•TAP could not cause the adverse effects of the traditional ALI therapeutic drug glucocorticoids.•This paper could provide and contribute to the development of new chemical structures as drugs for the treatment of ALI.