Bleomycin-Induced Fibrosis

Bleomycin-induced Lung Injury/Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)

Bleomycin is a chemotherapeutic agent used to treat cancers such as Hodgkins lymphoma. One of the side effects is pulmonary toxicity, which can be life threatening in approximately 10% of patients.  

 The mechanism of bleomycin-induced lung injury includes oxidative damage via oxidant-mediated DNA breaks, causing inflammatory reactions in the lungs.

Bleomycin has also been used to induce lung injury in rodents for basic research into pulmonary fibrosis for over a decade. At MD Biosciences, we have refined the oral aspiration administration to allow for more even distribution of disease throughout both right and left lungs, making bleomycin-induced injury in mice a reliable model for research. This is a great model for studying idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
 

Available Bleomycin Study Readouts:

• Immunophenotyping of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF):
  •   Quantitation of T Cells, B Cells, Macrophage, Neutrophils, Eosinophils, Fibroblasts, etc
• Cytokine Expression Levels (ELISA/Multiplex) in:
  • BALF
  • Lung Tissue Homogenate
  • Plasma/Serum
• Histology of lung:
  • H&E for morphologic analysis, cellular infiltration, etc (Figure 1)
  • Masson's Trichrome staining for collagen
  • IHC for specific markers of interest such as CD3, CD11b, etc.
• Lung tissue biomarkers
• Blood biomarkers (protein or nucleic acid)
• Lung tissue cellularity 

Figure 1. Late Stage Histology from Control & Bleomycin-treated Mouse Lung

Other Fibrosis Animal Models

 Systemic Sclerosis

NASH

Contact us to learn more about our fibrosis capabilities and to discuss study design!