Objective     To investigate the effects of perfluorocarbon (PFC) on lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced intercellular adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1) expression in cultured pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs).       Methods     Rat PMVECs cultured by peripheral lung tissue-sticking method were seeded in Transwell chambers and divided randomly into 4 groups: group C remained untreated as blank control; group F was incubated with PFC; group L was stimulated with 100 μg/L LPS; group LF was treated with 100 μg/L LPS and PFC. After treated for 3

8 and 24 h

the cells of each group were harvested respectively. The cell viability of normal rat PMVECs treated by PFC was determined by MTT assay. Then the mRNA expression of ICAM-1 was semi-quantified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and the level of ICAM-1 protein expression was detected by flow cytometry.      Results     The cell viability of normal rat PMVECs was not impaired significantly by treatment of PFC. Both mRNA and protein expression of ICAM-1 had no significant difference between group F and group C (P0.05). Treatment of group L cells with 100 μg/L LPS significantly induced the mRNA and protein expression of ICAM-1 in a time-dependent manner (P0.05

P0.01). In comparison with group L correspondingly

the mRNA and protein expression of ICAM-1 in group LF were not suppressed significantly by treatment for 3 h (P0.05)

while did for 8 h

24 h (P0.01

P0.05).      Conclusion     Perfluorocarbon suppresses the mRNA and protein expression of ICAM-1 induced by LPS in cultured PMVECs

which suggests a potential mechanism that PFC protects PMVECs from LPS-induced injury via its anti-inflammatory effect.