Protective effects of General Ginsenoside against the pulmonary fibrosis in mice

Aim To investigate the effects of general ginsenoside on the pulmonary fibrosis in mice. Methods All the animals were divided into the sham operation group, model control group and the groups administered with gen- eral ginsenoside （40, 80, 160 mg · kg^-1） and prednisone （5 mg · kg^-1） group. The mice pulmonary fibrosis was induced by bleomycin （BLM 5 mg · kg^-1） and general ginsenoside （40, 80 and 160 mg · kg^-1） and prednisone （ 5 mg · kg^- 1 ） were given the day after surgery for 28consecutive days. The pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomy- cin （BLM 5 mg · kg^-1） was evidenced by the pulmonary index, histopathology, and by the expression of alpha smooth muscle actin （oL-SMA）. Results Compared with that of the sham operation control, the pulmonary index were remarkably increased, Pathological examination demonstrated that BLM administration induced focal fibrotie lesions （ Alveolitis and pulmonary fibrosis） in mice lungs, and the expression of α-SMA mRNA was elevated for sev- eral time in the model control. However, compared with model control, general ginsenoside and prednisone admin- istrated could cause significantly decreases in the pulmonary index, the degree and extent of alveolitis and fibrosis had different degree of ease, reduce the elevated α-SMA mRNA expression. Conclusion General ginsenoside in- duced protection against the pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomycin in mice.