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• Curcumin and curcumol weaken the content of collagen in TGF-β1-induced fibroblast overproliferation HLF. • Autophagy is promoted by curcumin and curcumol in HLF. • Autophagy is needed to reduce the collagen, blocking autophagy by inhibitor CQ caused collagen accumulation. Disordered collagen production by fibroblasts in response to tissue injury contributes to pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Therefore, elimination of collagen deposition has becoming a potential target in PF treatment which despite standard anti-fibrosis regiment still remains challenge. Curcumin and curcumol are regarded as the main active components extraction from the rhizomes of Curcuma zedoaria , which is widely used for inhibition the proliferation of multiple cells. However, the molecular basis for the function of curcumin and curcumol in limiting fibrogenesis still unknown. In this study, we have investigated the effects of curcumin and curcumol in the fibroblast overproliferation model human lung fibroblast (HLF) inducing by TGF-β1. The growth-inhibitory effects of the components wasn't observed from 8 to 64 μg/ml. Administration of curcumin or curcumol significantly diminished the level of hydroxyproline hydroxyproline and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), also the collagen Ⅰ (Col-Ⅰ) and collagen Ⅲ (Col-Ⅲ) deposition were reduced in the HLF. Furthermore, related to the collagen synthesis proteins including N-terminal pro-peptide for Type Ⅰ collagen (PⅠNP), N-terminal pro-peptide for Type Ⅲ collagen (PⅢNP) and prolyl-hydroxylase (PHD) were degraded gracefully at dose-dependent manner. Autophagy as the scavenger was crippled in TGF-β1-fibroblast overproliferation HLF, conversely the increased autophagosomes have been spotted in cytoplasm under transmission electron microscope which is consistent with up-regulation of Beclin1 and ATG7 after treatment with curcumin or curcumol in this study. Additionally, blocking autophagy by inhibitor chloroquine (CQ) caused collagen deposition, providing further evidence regard to autophagy activation capacity of curcumin and curcumol. Our findings provide a detailed understanding that the function of curcumin and curcumol on decreasing collagen deposition mediating by autophagy mechanism, which may also inspire the further research on PF at different perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between lung and intestine has already been reported, but the differences in community structures or functions between lung and intestine bacteria yet need to explore. To explore the differences in community structures or functions, the lung tissues and fecal contents in rats were collected and analyzed through 16S rRNA sequencing. It was found that intestine bacteria was more abundant and diverse than lung bacteria. In intestine bacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroides were identified as major phyla while Lactobacillus was among the most abundant genus. However, in lung the major identified phylum was Proteobacteria and genus Pseudomonas was most prominent genus. On the other hand, in contrast the lung bacteria was more concentrated in cytoskeleton and function in energy production and conversion. While, intestine bacteria were enriched in RNA processing, modification chromatin structure, dynamics and amino acidmetabolism. The study provides the basis for understanding the relationships between lung and intestine bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]