earticle

영어

Asthma is one of the crucial inflammatory diseases with wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing. It is accompanied with the airway hyperresponsiveness, pulmonary inflammation and airway remodeling. Recently, inhalation of essential oils from aromatic plants has been reported to have therapeutic effects for respiratory disease. In this study, we verified the inhibitory effects of peppermint oil inhalation using a nebulizer in mice. Network pharmacology analysis was conducted to predict the functional mechanism of peppermint oil prior to animal experiment. The target genes of menthol and menthone, main compounds of peppermint oil, consisted of the whole network and then analysed in both of KEGG pathway and GO Biological process databases. Based on the results from Network pharmacology, cytokine expression and the IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway were confirmed in lung epithelial cells and asthmatic mice. Through a network pharmacological analysis, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and JAK/STAT was expected to be potential mechanisms of peppermint oil. Fine particulate matter (PM)- exposed lung epithelial cells showed the decreases of pro-inflammatory and T helper 2-specific cytokines by peppermint oil treatment. Inhalation of peppermint oil by nebulization also reduced the IL-6 levels and JAK2/STAT3 phosphorylation in PM-exposed lung tissues. Moreover, respiratory epithelium hyperplasia, collagen deposition and goblet cell activation were ameliorated in peppermint oil-treated asthmatic mice. Taken together, inhalation of peppermint oil significantly down-regulated the IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway in inflamed lung tissues. Peppermint oil may have an inhibitory effect on inflammatory asthma under the condition of PM-exposure.