Examination of the effects of fasudil (a selective Rho kinase inhibitor) and Lipoxin A4 in endotoxin-induced ALI (Wang et al., 2019; Ba et al., 2019), and the effects of tanshinol (a hydrophilic polyphenol) on the lungs in a caecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis (Xu et al., 2018), have shown that they mitigate lung damage by increasing the expression of AQP5 by reducing the expression of NF-κB and the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF- α and IL-6). The gene discussed is AQP5; the disease is acute respiratory distress syndrome.