中国结合医学杂志（英文版）Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine

Author Name	Affiliation
Lin-fu Zhou	The First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, (210029), Nanjing
Kai-sheng Yin	The First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, (210029), Nanjing

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Abstract:

Objective

To study the effect and mechanism of arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃) on apoptosis of pulmonary eosinophiles (PE) in asthmatic guinea-pigs.

Methods

Thirty guinea-pigs were divided into 3 groups at random, the control group, the asthmatic group and the As₂O₃ treated group. The dosage of As₂O₃ used was 2 mg/kg. The apoptotic PE were labelled by TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labelling technique, and the PE infiltration and apoptosis were detected quantitatively by using computerized image analysis technique.

Results

In the control group, the amount of infiltrating PE was 4.4±2.5 cells/HP and the PE apoptotic index (AI) was 0.42±0.08%. In the asthmatic group, the amount of inflitrating PE increased (P<0.01) and AI decreased significantly (P<0.01). After the asthmatic animals had been treated with As₂O₃, the two parameters changed reversedly significantly (P<0.01), and there was a significantly negative correlation between them ( r = — 0.949,P<0.01).

Conclusion

The PE apoptosis abnormality is one of the important mechanisms that cause bronchial asthma, As₂O₃ could alleviate the airway inflammation through promoting PE apoptosis and lower PE infiltration. Low dose of As₂O₃ is proved to be effective with relative safety, it also has potential value in treating asthma.