VIM and pulmonary fibrosis: Western blotting results of the key lung fibrosis proteins revealed significantly greater decreases in the expression of collagen-I, vimentin, α-SMA, and snail proteins in the MR-treated group than in the RA-treated group and untreated controls (Figures 4E,F), suggesting that MR inhibited the expression of key proteins of pulmonary fibrosis, exerting a stronger anti-pulmonary fibrosis effect than was achieved with RA.