Fig. 6

The anti-fibrotic effects of inositol on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. A Schematic diagram of the sequence of events in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. C57BL/6J mice (n = 7 per group) received intratracheal injection of saline or bleomycin (BLM) followed by vehicle, nintedanib, or inositol treatments. B Representative hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson’s trichrome staining of lung tissue from vehicle-, nintedanib- and inositol-treated mice with a single dose of bleomycin challenge. C Semiquantitative fibrosis evaluation of positive staining on histological Masson’s trichrome-stained sections of mouse lung. Fibrosis score is presented as the percentage of the positive staining area per high-powered field. Quantitative analysis of 6–12 high-powered fields per lung was performed by using ImageJ software (mean ± SE, n = 5, *p < 0.05) ns: non-significant. D Hydroxyproline content in the right lung homogenate samples detected by the hydroxyproline ELISA assay. Data are presented as mean with individual values (mean ± SE, n = 5, *p < 0.05). E The body weights of mice were measured at indicated days (mean ± SE, n = 5, *p < 0.05 versus BLM + vehicle group). F Kaplan-Meier analysis of the overall survival rates of vehicle-, nintedanib- and inositol-treated mice with a single dose of bleomycin challenge (p = 0.08, log-rank test; n = 7)