Effects of aerobic exercise on pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomycin

Abstract

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease with poor prognostic and no effective treatment is available. Although there are a considerable number of studies showing that pulmonary rehabilitation programs for IPF patients result in proved quality of life and disease management, the possible mechanisms involved in this beneficial effects remain to be elucidated. In this context, aerobic exercise has demonstrated to reduce inflammation and remodeling in expermental models of asthma, COPD and acute lung injury. Preliminary results show that aerobic exercise was effective to reduce lung inflammation in a model of pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomycin. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the effects of treadmill aerobic exercise training in lung inflammation, structure and function in a chronic model of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis... (AU)