Capsaicin mitigates ventilator-induced lung injury by suppressing ferroptosis and maintaining mitochondrial redox homeostasis through SIRT3-dependent mechanisms

Ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) is one of the severe complications in the clinic concerning mechanical ventilation (MV). Capsaicin (CAP) has anti-inflammatory and inhibitory effects on oxidative stress, which is a significant element causing cellular ferroptosis. Nevertheless, the specific role and potential mechanistic pathways through which CAP modulates ferroptosis in VILI remain elusive.

VILI was established in vivo, and the pulmonary epithelial cell injury model induced by circulation stretching (CS) was established in vitro. Both mice and cells were pretreated with CAP. Transmission electron microscopy, ELISA, Western blot, immunofluorescence, RT-PCR, fluorescent probes, and other experimental methods were used to clarify the relationship between iron death and VILI in alveolar epithelial cells, and whether capsaicin alleviates VILI by inhibiting iron death and its specific mechanism.

Ferroptosis was involved in VILI by utilizing in vivo models. CAP inhibited ferroptosis and alleviated VILI's lung damage and inflammation, and this protective effect of CAP was dependent on maintaining mitochondrial redox system through SITR3 signaling. In the CS-caused lung epithelial cell injury models, CAP reduced pathological CS-caused ferroptosis and cell injury. Knockdown SIRT3 reversed the role of CAP on the maintaining mitochondria dysfunction under pathological CS and eliminated its subsequent advantageous impacts for ferroptosis against overstretching cells.

The outcomes showed that CAP alleviated ferroptosis in VILI via improving the activity of SITR3 to suppressing mitochondrial oxidative damage and maintaining mitochondrial redox homeostasis, illustrating its possibility as a novel therapeutic goal for VILI.