Abstract:

Objective：To explore the effects of dexamethasone on airway remodeling morphology and intercellular adhesion molecule-1（ICAM-1）expression in respiratory

syncytial virus（RSV）induced asthmatic rats，and discuss the potential mechanism of applying dexamethasone in the prevention and treatment of asthma. Methods：60 SD male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups with 10 rats in each group：normal group，model group，prednisone and salbutamol treatment group，dexamethasone high-dose，medium-dose and lowdose groups. After successfully constructing an asthma rat model with ovalbumin and RSV，rats were sacrificed to obtain lung tissue for hematoxylin-eosin（HE）staining to observe the inflammation in each group. Total airway wall area（WAt），perimeter of the basement membrane（Pbm）and airway bronchial smooth muscle area（WAm）of each group were detected by image analysis software. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression level of ICAM-1 in lung tissues of rats in each group. Results：Compared with the model group，the inflammatory response was reduced in prednisone and salbutamol treatment group，dexamethasone high-dose and medium-dose group，and Wat/Pbm，Wam/Pbm and the expression level of ICAM-1 were also significantly decreased compared with the model group，with statistical significance. Conclusion：Dexamethasone can significantly relieve airway remodeling symptoms caused by asthma，which may be related to the decrease of ICAM-1 expression in lung tissue.

Key words:

font-family:Times,"> respiratory syncytial virusfont-family:Helvetica,">,asthmafont-family:Helvetica,">,airway remodelingfont-family:Helvetica,">,intercellular adhesion molecule-1