title: Effect of Vernonia cinerea in improvement of respiratory tissue in chronic nicotine treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To demonstrate the effect of Vernonia cinerea (VC) on rat respiratory tissue in chronic nicotine condition.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pathology of rat respiratory tissue was induced by intraperitoneally injection with 1 mg/kg BW of rat. Male Wistar rats were divided into three groups, control group (C), nicotine treated group (N) and nicotine treated with Vernonia cinerea (VC) supplementation (NV, 100 mg/kg BW of rat) for 3 and 6 months. The animals were sacrificed and the respiratory tissues were removed and further processed for paraffin embedment and stained with Hematoxylin & Eosin (H&E), Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS), and Masson's trichrome techniques.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The histopathology of lung tissue and trachea occurred in a chronic nicotine treatment. The thickness of alveolar walls and proliferation of alveolar type 2 cell were found. There was remarkable increasing of various inflammatory cells, alveolar macrophages, lymphocytes and plasma cells after nicotine treatment for 6 months. A large number of small blood vessels appeared in the alveolar wall. Nicotine also caused fibrosis which dispersed throughout the lung parenchyma in perivascular peribronchiole and alveolar wall regions. Moreover there was the appearance of epithelial cell injury and goblet cell hyperplasia in the trachea. Regarding the VC supplementation, the result of a recovery of alveolar walls, i.e. decreasing of various inflammatory cells and alveolar type 2 cells was clearly demonstrated. In addition, the fibrosis and goblet cell hyperplasia were almost disappeared in the lung tissue after VC treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Administration of VC in a chronic nicotine treatment resulted in an improvement of respiratory tissue. The recovery of the respiratory tract, especially trachea and lung tissue was characterized by the remarkable decrease of various inflammatory cells, fibrotic areas, and goblet cell hyperplasia. The VC, therefore shows the potential effect to be a new herbal therapeutic agent for alleviate the symptoms of the respiratory tract caused by nicotine from heavy cigarette smoke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Science, Rungsit University, Pathumthani, Thailand.
authors.forename: Chamaibhorn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Promputta
authors.forename: Vipavee
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Anupunpisit
authors.forename: Busaba
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Panyarachun
authors.forename: Tarinee
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sawatpanich
authors.forename: Rith
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Watthanachaiyingcharoen
authors.forename: Ornlaksana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Paeratakul
authors.forename: Narisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kamkaen
authors.forename: Hattaya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Petpiboolthai
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000633:toxicity*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000187:drug effects*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D035741:Vernonia
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D009538:Nicotine