Treating effect of emodin on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats

Objective To study the effect of emodin on pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomycin in rats. Methods Bleomycin was injected intratracheally to make rats lung fibrosis model.The rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group,prednisone group and emodin group(small dose,moderate dose and largedose). All rats were raised under the same conditions. After 28 days,the rats were killed and the lungs were examined pathologically and the expression of TGF-β1 and the content of hydroxyproline were determined.Results The changes of pulmonary fibrosis reflected by lung pathological examination,TGF-β1 expression and hydroxyproline content were lighter in the drug therapy groups than those in the model group.Conclusion Emodin has a certain treating effect on the pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomycin in rats,possibly through inhibition of proliferation of lung fibroblast and TGF-β1 expression.