Study on the Protective Effect of Special Electromagnetic Field Treated Water and Far Infrared Rays on LPS-Induced ARDS Rats

OBJECTIVE: To explore the protective effect of special electromagnetic field treated water (SEW) and far infrared rays (IFR) on endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) induced ARDS rats and the effect on inflammatory factors. METHODS: 40 healthy male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups with 10 in each group. Preventive experiment: Adaptive feeding was carried out for 1 week according to animal feeding standards. Rats in SEW group drank SEW daily. Samely, rats in SEW and FIR group also drank SEW daily. Besides, rats in SEW and FIR group were also given far infrared rays for 20min/d. Rats in model group drank distilled water daily. After 7 days, rats in each group were injected with LPS (2 mg/kg) via the tail vein for making models. Rats in blank control group were given distilled water for 7 days, without modeling. All rats in the 4 groups were put to death under anesthesia 16 hours after modeling. Lung tissue and abdominal aortic blood were taken from these rats. RESULTS: Pathological observation of lung and lung tissue indicated that rats in model group showed great pathological difference from rats in blank group. Rats in intervention group showed more symptomatic improvement in relation to alveolar and pulmonary interstitial congestion, edema, and inflammatory cell infiltration than rats in model group. The level of inflammatory factors like IL-1β and IL-6 in serum of rats in model group increased compared to blank control group (p<0.05). Comparing SEW group and SEW and FIR group with model group, levels of IL-1β and IL-6 in serum of rats both decreased remarkably (IL-Iβ: P < 0.05; IL-6: P < 0.01) while there was no obvious difference between SEW group and SEW and FIR group (p>0.05). The lung coefficient (LI) in SEW and FIR group was significantly lower than that in model group (P<0.01), which was higher than that of blank control group (P < 0.05), while there was no obvious difference between model group and SEW group (P>0.05). Compared with blank control group, lung permeability index (LPI) in model group showed no obvious difference (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Special electromagnetic field treated water and far infrared rays can alleviate lung tissue damage of endotoxin-induced ARDS rats, relieving symptoms of alveolar and pulmonary interstitial congestion, edema, and inflammatory cell infiltration. The protective effect of special electromagnetic field treated water and far infrared rays on endotoxin-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome may result from their role in reducing the levels of IL-1β and IL-6 in serum and the expression level of p65 protein in lung tissue, in addition to reliving inflammatory response, lung coefficient, and lungs edema.