Introduction:
Rutin is a plant-derived flavonoid. In the present work we screened the activity of rutin in a cigarette smoke induced lung disease mouse model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Material and methods:
The mice were subjected to cigarette smoke for two weeks for inducing COPD simulating lung inflammation. Two hours prior to exposure to cigarette smoke, the mice were treated with rutin via the oral route. After treatment, the mice were assessed for profiling of cytokines and infiltration of immune cells in the bronchoalveolar fluid and histological alterations in the lungs. Roflumilast, an anti-COPD drug, was used as a positive control for comparing the efficacy of rutin.

Results:
The results of the study suggested that the treatment with rutin inhibited the inflow of macrophages, lymphocytes and neutrophils significantly in the airway. It was also observed that the treatment with rutin significantly decreased tumor necrosis factor-, interleukin-8 and platelet activating factor levels in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid compared to the cigarette smoke exposed group. Interestingly, the findings of our study were parallel to the positive control RFL included in the experiment in the treated mice.

Conclusions:
The findings suggested that rutin exerts a protective effect against cigarette smoke mediated COPD-like lung inflammation. Hence rutin may be a novel therapeutic agent for treating inflammatory conditions in lungs such as COPD.