Studies on the contents of glycosaminoglycans from lungs of silicotic rats and tetrandrine-treated silicotic rats.

In this report the differences in the total content of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) and in the relative contents of individual GAG among normal rat lung, silicotic rat lung, and tetrandrine (TT)-treated silicotic rat lung were studied. The differences were also observed with the histochemical method. In normal rat lung the content of GAG was 6.35 mg/g dry tissue. The percentage of heparin sulfate (HeS) was higher than the others. The content of GAG in silicotic rat lung was raised much more than that of the normal rat. Percentages of hyaluronic acid (HyA) and dermatan sulfate (DeS) were higher. Percentage of HeS was lower than that of the normal rat. In silicotic lung GAG existed around the collagen fibers and were netlike in shape. After treatment with TT, most of the GAG were seen to be present within the cells. It was proved that TT could inhibit the increase in the content of GAG in silicotic rat lung and could also obstruct the change in the relative contents of individual GAG.