The Effect Of Safflower Extract On An Animal Model Of Bleomycin-induced Pulmonary Fibrosis In Rats

Safflower is a popular folk medicine functioning as a blood-circulation-promoting agent with antiinflammatory effects. Twenty-four six-week-old Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were given a single intratracheal injection of 5 mg/kg bleomycin to establish idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) model. Two weeks after instillation, the survived rats were randomly assigned to receive an equal volume of saline, 5 mg/kg prednisolone and 200 mg/kg SE for treatment once a day for three weeks. After sacrifice, we assessed the therapeutic effect of SE on IPF by means of lung histology, serum transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) activity, oxidative and nitrosiative stress markers in lung tissue. Results