Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are classified as two lung complications arising from various conditions such as sepsis, trauma, and lung inflammation. Previous studies have shown that the extract of the leaves of Portulaca oleracea (PO) possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities. In the present study, the effects of PO (50–200 mg/kg) and dexamethasone (Dexa; 1.5 mg/kg) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI were investigated. Subsequentially, the lung wet/dry ratio; white blood cells (WBC); levels of nitric oxide (NO); myeloperoxidase (MPO); malondialdehyde (MDA); thiol groups formation; super oxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities; and levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-6, IL-10, prostaglandin E2 (PGE₂), and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β in the broncho alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were evaluated in order to demonstrate the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of PO. Our results show that PO suppresses lung inflammation by the reduction of IL-β, IL-6, TNF-α, PGE₂, and TGF-β, as well as by the increase of IL-10 levels. We also found that PO improves the level of WBC, MPO, and MDA, as well as thiol group formation and SOD and CAT activities, compared with the LPS group. The results of our investigation also show that PO significantly decreased the lung wet/dry ratio as an index of interstitial edema. Taken together, our findings reveal that PO extract dose-dependently displays anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity against LPS-induced rat ALI, paving the way for rational use of PO as a protective agent against lung-related inflammatory disease.

Today, with the advances in technology and science, more advanced drug delivery formulations are required. One of these new systems is an intelligent hydrogel. These systems are affected by the environment or conditions that become a gel, stay in the circumstance for a certain period, and slowly release the drug. As an advantage, only a lower dose of the drug is required, and it provides less toxicity and minor damage to other tissues. Hydrogels are of different types, including temperature-sensitive, pH-sensitive, ion change-sensitive, and magnetic field-sensitive. In this study, we investigated a kind of temperature-sensitive smart hydrogel, which has a liquid form at room temperature and becomes gel with increasing temperature. Chitosan-β-glycerophosphate hydrogels have been researched and used in many studies. This study investigates the various factors that influence the gelation mechanism, such as gel formation rates, temperature, pH, time, and gel specificity. Hydrogels are used in many drug delivery systems and diseases, including nasal drug delivery, vaginal drug delivery, wound healing, peritoneal adhesion, ophthalmic drug delivery, tissue engineering, and peptide and protein delivery. Overall, the chitosan-β-glycerophosphate hydrogel is a suitable drug carrier for a wide range of drugs. It shows little toxicity to the body, is biodegradable, and is compatible with other organs. This system can be used in different conditions and different medication ways, such as oral, nasal, and injection.

Aging is a progressive, accumulative and natural phenomenon that leads to irreversible changes in all molecules, cells, tissues and organs of an organism. Previous studies have demonstrated that d-galactose (DG) imitates human natural aging. EA has also shown many pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities. In the present study, we are aimed to evaluate anti-aging effects of EA (0.01-10 μM) on DG-induced aging model in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells, using assessment of cell proliferation, lipid peroxidation (MDA), intra-cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), inflammation (TNF-α), total glutathione content (GSH), Beta-Galactosidase (β-GAL) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) levels. Furthermore, the effects of EA were examined on HO-1 or PPAR-γ pathways using their selective inhibitors ZnPP or GW9662, respectively. The results revealed that EA (0.01-10 μM) significantly increased cell proliferation and GSH level, while decreased the levels of ROS, MDA, TNF-α, β-GAL and AGEs following DG-induced aging. Our findings also presented that pre-incubation with ZnPP exacerbates toxicity features of DG-induced aging in all measured parameters. Furthermore, we showed that pre-incubation of EA (0.1 and 1 μM) with either GW9662 or ZnPP significantly prevents the protective activities on cell proliferation, ROS, MDA, GSH and TNF-α levels following DG-induced aging (p < 0.001 for all cases). Additionally, EA (0.1 and 1 μM) along with GW9662 did not affect the levels of β-GAL and AGES in comparison to DG-induced aging group. Although we described for the first time that EA at low concentrations (0.1-1 μM) provides greater antiaging properties than both its high concentration (10 μM) and metformin (2.5 mM) probably through PPAR-γ/HO-1 signaling pathway, but additional and deeper investigations are needed to show exact involving mechanisms. It could be suggestible that EA may be as anti-aging agent at low concentrations for age-related neurological disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.