Effects of Yanghe Pingchuan Granules on the Expression of AQP1 and AQP5 in Rats with Bronchial Asthma

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of Yanghe Pingchuan Granules on the expression of AQP1 and AQP5 and explore the mechanism of Yanghe Pingchuan Granules in treating asthma from regulating water metabolism and airway mucus secretion. METHODS 90 SD rats were randomly divided into six groups which were the normal group (N)， asthma model group(M)， low， medium and high-dose of Yanghe Pingchuan groups(YHPC-L， YHPC-M and YHPC-H) and Dexamethasone group(DXM). The M， YHPC-L， YHPC-M， YHPC-H and DXM groups were sensitized with OVA by intraperitoneal injection and inhalation， then Hydrocortisone was used to replicate kidney-yang deficiency model， while the N group was treated with saline as control. HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes in lung tissues. Real-time PCR and Western blot was applied to detect the mRNA and protein expression of AQP1 and AQP5 in lung tissue， respectively. Immunohistochemical was applied to examine the AQP1 and AQP5 distribution and expression in lung tissue. RESULTS The mRNA and protein expression of AQP1 and AQP5 in M group was significantly lower than in N group (P<0.01). Compared with M group， the expression of AQP1 and AQP5 increased highly after treated with low， medium and high-dose of Yanghe Pingchuan Granules (P<0.05~0.01 ) with dose-dependent effect. Meanwhile， the effect of low-dose Yanghe Pingchuan Granules was lower than DXM (P<0.05)， but the medium and high-dose of Yanghe Pingchuan Granules had a considerable effect (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Yanghe Pingchuan Granules could maintain water homeostasis and regulate airway mucus secretion by up-regulating the expression of AQP1 and AQP5.