Abstract: AIM: To investigate the protective ef-fects and related mechanisms of artesunate on mouse model of sepsis induced by cecal ligation and puncture(CLP).METHODS: The septic mouse models were established by CLP .Artesunate was administrated in-tramuscularly at 0, 4, 24 and 48 h after CLP .Mortali-ty of CLP mice was observed in the next 7 days.Blood samples were collected at 4,8 h after CLP and the lev-els of LPS , TNF-αand IL-6 were detected by kinetic turbidimetric limulus test or ELISA, respectively .The morphological changes of lung tissues were observed with light microscope at 8 h after CLP.RESULTS: Artesunate degraded obviously the mortality of CLP mice (P <0.05), attenuated the levels of LPS, TNF-αand IL-6 at 4, 8 h after CLP (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the lung tissues were also less injured in artes unate treatment group .CONCLUSION :Artesu-nate has a significantly protective effect for CLP mice which may be related to attenuating the LPS level , in-hibitting the release of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α、IL-6 and reducing organ tissue injury .

Key words: artesunate, sepsis, cecal ligation and puncture