Protective roles of polysaccharides from Ganoderma lucidum on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats

Abstract The purpose of this paper was to investigate the protective effects of polysaccharides from (PGL) Ganoderma lucidum on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats. Our study demonstrated that treatment with PGL of 100–300 mg/kg for 28 days led to significant reduction in the pulmonary index, inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen deposition in rats with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis, which was associated with increased levels of glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase and decreased contents of malondialdehyde and hydroxyproline in the lung. These results indicated that PGL played a positive protective role in the pulmonary fibrosis and its possible mechanism was to improve lung antioxidant ability.