Therapeutic effect of Chinese medicine formula DSQRL on experimental pulmonary fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a restrictive lung disease that may occur idiopathically or as a complication of many diseases. The outcome of the current treatment by glucocorticoids remains very unsatisfactory. This study has tested a new Chinese medicine formula DSQRL for the treatment of experimental PF in comparison with prednisone. Seventy-two rats with PF induced by CCl4 were randomly divided into four groups to undertake the treatment of either (a) high dose of prednisone; (b) Chinese medicine formula DSQRL; (c) combined treatment of the above two; or (d) tap water of the same volume. At the end of 30 days treatment, the DSQRL treatment achieved a better outcome (p < 0.05) than prednisone in terms of histological examination, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid analysis, hydroxyproline assay and complications. The observations support further investigation and clinical trials of this Chinese medicinal formula for the treatment of PF.