Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic and progressive lung disease which results in a loss of pulmonary function and eventually respiratory failure. Inflammation and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) play important roles in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of polydatin (PD) in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. A bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis animal model used SD rats. Morphological changes were analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin staining. RT-qPCR and western blot were used for the detection of the expression of TGF-b1, collagen I, collagen III, Ecadherin, fibronectin and the ratios of p-Smad2/Smad2, p-Smad3/Smad3. The concentrations of PICP, PIIINP, TNF-a, IL-1b, IL-6 and IL-17 were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (Elisa) assay. Results showed that PD attenuated bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. The beneficial effect of PD was possibly related to the inhibition of inflammation and EMT through suppressing the TGF-b/Smad signaling pathway. Our findings suggested that PD might be a potential therapeutic candidate in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.Fig. 4 PD suppresses TGF-b/Smad signaling pathway in pulmonary fibrosis. (A) Relative protein level of TGF-b, p-Smad2, Smad2, p-Smad3, Smad3 was detected by Western blot. (B-D) The ratios of TGF-b, p-Smad2/Smad2 and p-Smad3/Smad3 in different groups. All data were represented as the mean AE SD from three independent experiments. **P < 0.01 compared with control group, # P < 0.05, ## P < 0.01 compared with TGF-b group.8110 | RSC Adv., 2019,9,[8104][8105][8106][8107][8108][8109][8110][8111][8112] This journal is