AIM: To investigate the effect of Gardenia jasminoides (GJ) on cerulein-induced acute pancreatitis (AP) in mice.METHODS: C57BL/6 mice weighing 18-20 g were divided into three groups.(1) Normal saline-treated group,(2) treatment with GJ at a dose of 0.1 g/kg,(3) treatment with GJ at a dose of 1 g/kg.GJ was administered orally (n = 6 per group) for 1 wk.Three hours later,the mice were given an intraperitoneal injection of cerulein (50 μg/kg),a stable cholecystokinin (CCK) analogue,every hour for a total of 6 h as described previously.The mice were sacrificed at 6 h after completion of cerulein injections.Blood samples were obtained to determine serum amylase,lipase and cytokine levels.The pancreas was rapidly removed for morphologic examination and scoring.A portion of pancreas was stored at -70℃ and prepared for the measurement of tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity,an indicator of neutrophil sequestration,and for reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) and real-time PCR measurements.RESULTS: Treatment with GJ decreased significantly the severity of pancreatitis and pancreatitis-associated lung injury.Treatment with GJ attenuated the severity of AP compared with saline-treated mice,as shown by reduction in pancreatic edema,neutrophil infiltration,serum amylase and lipase levels,serum cytokine levels,and mRNA expression of multiple inflammatory mediators.CONCLUSION: These results suggest that GJ attenuated the severity of AP as well as pancreatitis-associated lung injury. AIM: To investigate the effect of Gardenia jasminoides (GJ) on cerulein-induced acute pancreatitis (AP) in mice. METHODS: C57BL / 6 mice weighing 18-20 g were divided into three groups. (1) Normal saline- treated group, (2) treatment with GJ at a dose of 0.1 g / kg, (3) treatment with GJ at a dose of 1 g / kg. GJ was administered orally (n = 6 per group) for 1 wk. mice were given an intraperitoneal injection of cerulein (50 μg / kg), a stable cholecystokinin (CCK) analogue, every hour for a total of 6 h as described previously. The mice were sacrificed at 6 h after completion of cerulein injections. Blood samples were obtained to determine serum amylase, lipase and cytokine levels. The pancreas was occurred removed for morphologic examination and scoring. A portion of pancreas was stored at -70 ° C and prepared for the measurement of tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, an indicator of neutrophil sequestration, and for reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) and real-time PCR measurements. RE SULTS: Treatment with GJ decreased significantly of pancreatitis and pancreatitis-associated lung injury. Treatment with GJ attenuated the severity of AP compared with saline-treated mice, as shown by reduction in pancreatic edema, neutrophil infiltration, serum amylase and lipase levels, serum cytokine levels, and mRNA expression of multiple inflammatory mediators. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that GJ attenuated the severity of AP as well as pancreatitis-associated lung injury.