Exploring the protective mechanism of italicHuangqi Baihe Granule/italic （黄芪百合颗粒） against lung injury in high-altitude hypoxic rats based on the Bax/Bcl-2/Caspase-3 pathway

Key Points

• This study examines how Huangqi Baihe Granule affects lung cell apoptosis in hypoxic rats through the Bax/Bcl-2/Caspase-3 pathway.
• Screened active components of Huangqi Baihe Granule using TCMSP database.
• Validated binding ability of components with Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-3, and Caspase-9 using CB-Dock2 software.
• Divided rats into control, model, positive drug (Dexamethasone), and low, medium, high dose Huangqi Baihe Granule groups and treated for 14 days.
• Induced hypoxia in rats, then assessed lung tissue with HE staining, TUNEL staining, WB, and qRT-PCR.
• Molecular docking showed that Huangqi Baihe Granule molecules had Vina scores below -6.0 with target proteins.
• The model group exhibited thickened alveolar walls, congestion, increased apoptosis (P<0.01), and elevated Caspase-3, Caspase-9, and Bax (P<0.01), with a decrease in Bcl-2 (P<0.01, P<0.05).
• Treatment groups showed reduced pathological damage and apoptosis (P<0.01), improvement in protein and mRNA expression (P<0.01, P<0.05), with low dose group showing significant decreases in specific proteins and mRNA.