Inhibition of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis by lipopolysaccharide.

Current evidence suggests that bleomycin toxicity may be attributable to its DNA degradative activity possibly via generation of free radicals and O2 metabolites as mediators. Since lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been known to provide protection against O2 toxicity, which is correlated with increased activity of O2 metabolite-detoxifying enzymes, the effect of this agent on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis was examined. Endotracheal bleomycin administration caused increased lung collagen synthesis. A single intraperitoneal injection of LPS (500 micrograms/kg) at day zero significantly decreased these increases. Total bleomycin-induced lung collagen increase was also significantly reduced. LPS alone had no significant effect on total lung catalase activity. Glutathiione peroxidase activity, however, was significantly decreased by 15.8% compared to untreated animals at 2 days after LPS treatment and remained unchanged at other time points. In addition, superoxide dismutase activity was significantly elevated by 30% above untreated animals only at 14 days after LPS administration and remained unchanged at other time points. Endotracheal bleomycin administration alone caused significant reductions in catalase activity at 2 days and 2 weeks after treatment, whereas glutathione peroxidase activity increased above control untreated animals at 2 and 4 weeks, respectively. Superoxide dismutase activity was unaffected by bleomycin treatment. Pretreatment with LPS before bleomycin prevented these reductions or caused increases in the activities of these enzymes at 2 days. Glutathione peroxidase was increased and was significantly greater than those animals treated with bleomycin alone. Catalase also was higher in the LPS plus bleomycin group (by 22.2%, p less than 0.05) than the bleomycin group alone. Compared to the effects on lung collagen synthesis and content, LPS treatment resulted in much less dramatic changes in total lung antioxidant enzyme activities. This discrepancy between the intensity of LPS effects on lung O2 metabolite-detoxifying enzymes and that on pulmonary fibrosis implies that the LPS-ameliorating effect on pulmonary fibrosis could not be totally explained by increased ability to detoxify O2 metabolites. Rather, the data would favor the possibility that LPS inhibits bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis either by its known immunosuppressive effects or some other unknown mechanism. The former would be in agreement with previous data which suggest that an intact immune response is necessary for complete expression of the fibrogenic response to bleomycin.