Alteration in Intrapulmonary Pharmacokinetics of Aerosolized Model Compounds Due to Disruption of the Alveolar Epithelial Barriers Following Bleomycin-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis in Rats

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a lethal lung disease that is characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix and a change in lung structure. In this study, intrapulmonary pharmacokinetics of aerosolized model compounds were evaluated using rats with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Aerosol formulations of indocyanine green, 6-carboxyfluorescein (6-CF), and fluorescein isothiocyanate dextrans (FD; 4.4, 10, 70, and 250 kDa) were administered to rat lungs using a MicroSprayer. Indocyanine green fluorescence signals were significantly weaker in fibrotic lungs than in control lungs and 6-CF and FD concentrations in the plasma of pulmonary fibrotic animals were markedly higher than in the plasma of control animals. Moreover, disrupted epithelial tight junctions, including claudins-1, -3, and -5, were observed in pulmonary fibrotic lesions using immunofluorescence microscopy. In addition, destruction of tight junctions on model alveolar epithelial cells (NCI-H441) by transforming growth factor-β1 treatment enhanced the permeability of 6-CF and FDs through NCI-H441 cell monolayers. These results indicate that aerosolized drugs are easily distributed into the plasma after leakage through damaged tight junctions of alveolar epithelium. Therefore, the development of delivery systems for anti-fibrotic agents to improve intrapulmonary pharmacokinetics may be necessary for effective idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis therapy.