We investigated whether
flavanones,
hesperetin-
naringenin, orange, and grapefruit juices reduce airway
inflammation and remodeling in murine chronic
asthma model. To establish chronic
asthma, mice received house dust mite (HDM) for 3 days in 2 weeks, followed by twice per week for 4 weeks. Concurrently, during the last 4 weeks, mice received
hesperetin plus
naringenin (HN), orange plus grapefruit juice (OGJ), orange juice (OJ), or grapefruit juice (GJ); whereas the asthmatic control (AC) group and non-asthmatic control (NC) group consumed water ad libitum. In histopathological examination, no goblet cells
metaplasia was observed in the HN, OJ, and GJ groups; also, intra-alveolar macrophages decreased compared with those of the AC group.
Hesperetin plus
naringenin significantly decreased subepithelial
fibrosis, smooth muscle
hypertrophy in airways, and lung
atelectasis compared with the AC group. Also, there was a reduction of subepithelial
fibrosis in airways in OJ and GJ groups compared with AC group, but it was not noticed in OGJ group. In bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, macrophages numbers decreased in OJ and OGJ groups, whereas eosinophil numbers were increased in OJ group compared with NC group. Our finding revealed that
hesperetin plus
naringenin ameliorate airway structural remodeling more than orange juice and grapefruit juice in murine model of HDM-induced
asthma.