Inhalation Effects of Korean Ginseng and Pine Needle on the Protection from Injury of Mouse Lung by Formaldehyde Exposure

Formaldehyde (FA) is an important industrial chemical, but it can cause allergic reactions, sick building syndrome and so on. It has also been observed to cause cancer in scientific studies using laboratory animals, and it even causes cancer in humans. Natural products such as ginseng and pine needle containing complicated mixtures of organic chemicals are widely used in the world, because their effective components are responsible for some pharmacological activities including antioxidative effect, anticancer effect. We investigate the effect of Korean ginseng (GE), pine needle extract (PE) and combined GE and PE (cNPE) on mouse lung injury by FA exposure. GE, PE and cNPE was directly transported to pulmonary cells through respiratory organ by nebulizer inhalation. In the case of FA exposure, the pulmonary structure was damaged and its function became abnormal. However, cNPE-FA, GE-FA, and PE-FA treated groups showed similar with the control group compared with FA group. Among them, GE was proved to be more effective than any other extracts. These results demonstrate that natural product extracts could protect pulmonary structure and function against FA exposure.