NLRP3 and pulmonary fibrosis: The present study was designed to investigate the attenuating effect of VCN in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in BALB/c mice (in vivo) and human fetal lung fibroblasts (MRC-5) cell line (in vitro) by examining its effect on important cellular and molecular targets (Nrf2, NLRP3, NF-κB, PPAR-γ, fibronectin, vimentin, Smad, and α-SMA) involved in pulmonary fibrosis.