Fig. 4

The effect of SFN on bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis. The histological results of haematoxylin and eosin, Masson’s trichrome (M-T) staining, immunohistochemistry staining of E-cad and α-SMA in lung sections (a). BLM induced extensive pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. SFN treatment attenuated BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis. M-T scores of lung histology (b). The M-T score increased significantly in the BLM group, and SFN treatment decreased the M-T score compared with the BLM group. The hydroxyproline assay of lung tissues (c). Collagen contents were evaluated by the hydroxyproline assay. The results were similar to the M-T scores. Image analysis of immunohistochemistry for E-cad (d) and α-SMA (e). SFN treatment restored E-cad expression and decreased the expression of α-SMA. The data are expressed as means ± standard deviation, n = 4 in each group. ^*p < 0.05, ^***p < 0.001 versus the control; ^††p < 0.01, ^†††p < 0.001 versus the BLM group