Abstract: AIM: To observe the effects of propofol on serum TNF-α, IL-1β in rabbit with acute lung injury (ALI) induced by oleic acid (OA) and explore its possible protective mechanism and provide evidence for the choice of anesthesia drug in clinical anesthesia. METHODS: Twenty four health Japanese white rabbits were randomly divided into three groups (n=8): control group (group Ⅰ), model group (groupⅡ) and propofol treatment group (group Ⅲ). The rabbits in group Ⅱ and Ⅲ were injected oleic acid (OA) (0.08 mL/kg) by marginal veins of ear to establish ALI models. The rabbits of group Ⅲ were injected propofol (8 mg·kg^-1·h^-1) with pump, while group Ⅰ and group Ⅱ were injected normal saline (0.8 mL·kg^-1·h^-1) to end of the experiment after establishing the ALI models successfully. The concentration of TNF-α and interleukin-1β in serum were detected by ELISA at the points of propofol or normal saline infusion (T₀), 1 h after administration (T₁), 2 h after administration (T₂), 3 h after administration (T₃), 4 h after administration (T₄), and blood gas analysis of them had been performed to calculate the PaO₂/FiO₂ Ratio. RESULTS: The concentrations of TNF-α and interleukin-1β in serum in group Ⅰ had no difference at different points (P＞0.05). The concentration of TNF-α began to increase at T₁, reached to peak at T₂ and decreased at T₃, T₄, but still higher than those of T₀ (P<0.05). The concentrations of TNF-α in group Ⅱ increased more obviously than those of group Ⅰ(P<0.05) and were lower in group Ⅲ than those of group Ⅱ (P<0.05) at the corresponding time point. Compared with T₀ the concentrations of interleukin-1β in groupⅠbegan to increase at T₁, reached to the peak at T₄ (P<0.05) and were higher than those of group Ⅰ at the corresponding time points (P<0.05), increased lowerly in group Ⅲ than those of group Ⅱ(P<0.05). The oxygenation index at different time points had no significant change in group Ⅰ, decreased gradually after establishing the ALI models successfully in group Ⅱ and Ⅲ, were lower in group Ⅱ and Ⅲ than those of group Ⅰ (P<0.05), while decrease less in group Ⅱ than group Ⅲ. CONCLUSION: Propofol can significantly decrease the concentrations of serum TNF-α and IL-1β and obviously improve the oxygenation index of rabbits with ALI, has a possible protective effect of ALI induced by oleic acid.

Key words: Propofol, Acute lung injury, Oleic acid, TNF-α, IL-1β, Oxygenation index