Background: With the increase in the number of low birth weight infants, oxygen therapy is more widely used. However, chronic high-concentration oxygen environments lead to hyperoxic lung injury in children, which in turn leads to bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). PGE1 is widely used in the clinic for its ability to inhibit inflammation and improve circulation. Therefore, we further investigated whether PGE-1 has a therapeutic effect on hyperoxic lung injury.

Methods: Hyperoxic lung injury model was adopted for investigating the interventional effects and underlying mechanisms of intraperitoneal injection of prostaglandin E1 (PGE-1) on hyperoxic lung injury in newborn rats via relevant experimental techniques, such as Diff-Quick staining, lung wet dry specific gravity measurements, HE staining, TUNEL staining, ELISA, and the Western blot method.

Results: Inflammatory and apoptotic cells in the PGE1-treated group were significantly lower than those in the hyperoxic lung injury group (p < 0.05); and the contents of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in the treated group were significantly lower than those in the model group (p < 0.05). Caspase-3, CHOP, GRP78 and Bcl-2/Bax protein expression in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the model group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: PGE-1 has a therapeutic effect on hyperoxic lung injury in neonatal rats.

Impact: PGE1 treatment reduces levels of inflammatory cells and pro-inflammatory cytokines and decreases apoptosis. PGE1 has a therapeutic effect on BPD through the endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway. This study offers the possibility of PGE1 for the treatment of BPD.