ArticleScientific reports2025
Echinacea purpurea ameliorates Bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats through modulating NADPH oxidase-4 and endothelin-1/connective tissue growth factor/matrix metalloproteinases signalling axis.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- From Phytochemical Diversity to Clinical Translation: Preparation-Dependent Bioactivity ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Glucosamine/chitosan blend surface-engineered rutin-loaded polymer/lipid hybrid nanoparticles for neuroprotection in induced schizophrenia model.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Phloridzin mitigates bleomycin-elicited lung fibrosis in Wistar rats: The interplay between antioxidant defenses, inflammatory processes, transforming growth factor beta 1, and autophagy.Toxicology reports · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is one of the rapidly progressing interstitial lung illnesses. Bleomycin (Bleo) is used as a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of lymphoma patients. The major side effects of Bleo include lung fibrosis, characterized by the accumulation of inflammatory cells. Echinacea purpurea (ECH) possesses immune-modulating, antiviral, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. The current study aims to evaluate the possible protective effects of ECH against Bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Forty rats were divided into four groups (n = 10). Group I represented the normal-control group. Group II represented the Bleo-control group. Groups III and IV received intra-tracheal Bleo followed by oral ECH (25 and 50 mg/kg); respectively, for 1 month. Lung tissue contents of reduced glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2 & MMP-9), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1), MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio, collagen-1 and alpha-Smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were measured. NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) genes were quantified using PCR. Moreover, lung tissue histopathological changes were screened. Intra-tracheal Bleo instillation resulted in significant increments in the lung tissue contents of MDA, TGF-β, MMP-2 & MMP-9, TIMP-1, MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio, collagen-1 and α-SMA. Moreover, Bleo significantly elevated the PCR expression of NOX4, CTGF and ET-1 genes in lung tissues and caused apparent lung tissue histopathological fibrotic changes. ECH treatment ameliorated all the aforementioned parameters and mitigated the lung tissue histopathological fibrotic changes induced by Bleo. The study highlighted for the first time the anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects of ECH against Bleo-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats. The study suggests that these effects are mainly mediated via the modulation of Gelatinases, NOX4, ET-1 and CTGF. Accordingly, ECH is anticipated as a potential therapy to be added to the treatment regimen of pulmonary fibrosis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.