Advances in the mechanism research of natural products against acute lung injury

Acute lung injury(ALI)is a common critical disease with increasing morbidity and mortality rate in clinic. Its major pathological cause is the inflammation imbalance, which can cause diffuse alveolar and pulmonary vascular endothelial cell injury, lung edema and atelectasis. Many pathways and receptors, such as NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways, and the adenosine A_2A receptors, Toll-like receptors(TLRs), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma(PPARγ), etc. are involved in ALI. Nowadays, prevention and treatment of ALI with natural products attract more and more attention. This article reviews the advances in the mechanisms research of natural products in recent three years against ALI so as to provide some references and clues for the development of innovative drugs to prevent and treat ALI.