The protective effect of colchicine on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats.

With the purpose of evaluating the therapeutic effect of colchicine on lung fibrosis in rats, bleomycin A5 (BLM-A5) was injected intratracheally to produce a lung fibrosis model. The animals were then treated with colchicine, 50 micrograms/d i.m. One month later, collagen fiber deposition scores (stained by Masson trichrome) were significantly lower in the treated group than in the untreated group (P less than 0.01). This result was proved further by assaying total lung hydroxyproline content (P less than 0.05). Histopathologic findings showed that the proliferation of fibroblasts dropped slightly in the treated group as compared with the untreated group. From this study, we conclude that colchicine has certain antifibrotic effects and may be used in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.