Effect of Pistacia lentiscus oil on experimental pulmonary fibrosis.

Background - Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic disease characterized by histopathological lesions in lung tissue. This is the most common and most severe idiopathic interstitial pneumonias. Current treatments are based on the combination of corticosteroids and immunosuppressants, but their effectiveness is still debated. Purpose of work - Testing the preventive effect of Pistacia Lentiscus oil, known for its antioxidant, anti-mutagenic and anti-proliferative effects, on a model of experimental lung fibrosis. Methods - Two groups of rats received an intratracheal injection of bleomycin (4.5 mg / kg). The first group, control (n = 20 rats), has received no treatment. The second group was treated with Pistacia Lentiscus oil (n = 20 rats) for 30 days before fibrosis induction, by daily gavage oil Pistacia Lentiscus oil (3,33ml / kg). This treatment was continued for 10 days. At the end of the experimental period, all rats were sacrificed and the lung tissue was examined histopathologically and immunostained for TGFβ. Results - The chromatographic profile oil Pistacia Lentiscus oil shows the dominance of two fatty acids that are linoleic acid and palmitic acid representing respectively 70.57 and 24.67%. Our results also show a decrease in the distribution of TGFβ both at the level of the inflammatory infiltrate and at the level of the pulmonary parenchyma histiocytes of rats treated with Pistacia Lentiscus oil compared with control rats. However, these changes are not accompanied by statistically significant changes of fibrosis score and inflammatory index. Conclusion - Our results are interesting to consider. Further studies using higher doses of Pistacia Lentiscus oil are important to conduct.