Abstract: Objective To establish and verify the animal model of sclerotic skin induced by bleomycin(Blm).Methods To establish a mouse model for scleroderma in C3H/He mice by repeated local injection of 100μL of Blm(200μg/mL)everyday for 3 weeks.Then,the specimens of skin,lung and serum were examined.Results After 3 week local Blm injections,an intense dermal sclerosis was shown in C3H/He mice.Compared with the control skin,increased dermal thickness and increased collagen histo-chemical index were found(P<0.001,P<0.0001).The examination of the lung of mice revealed thick-ened alveolar septa with infiltration of mononuclear cells and thickening of vascular walls.The speckled and nucleolar ANA patterns were detected.Anti-U1RNP,anti-Scl-70 and anticentromere antibodies were identi-fied together with the results of immunoblot.Conclusion Local injections of Blm(200μg/mL)for 3 weeks successfully induced sclerotic skin mimicking scleroderma in C3H mice.

Key words: Scleroderma,systemic, Models,animal, Bleomycin, Antibodies,antinuclear