Figure 3.

sEV-CC16 protects against LPS-induced lung injury in mice

Three hours after LPS, mice (five to eight mice per group) were given PBS, sEV-Con, sEV-CC16, or rCC16 and sacrificed 24 h after the indicated treatments. Schematic illustration of delivery of sEV-Con and sEV-CC16 into LPS-pretreated mice (A). In vivo imaging systems (IVIS) images of major organs obtained 24 h after the delivery of DiR-labeled sEVs (B). H&E staining of BAL cells and lung sections. M, macrophage; N, neutrophil; red arrows, neutrophils; blue arrows, alveolar disruption with hyaline membranes. Scale bar, 100 μm (C). The number of BALF macrophages (D) or neutrophils (E). Lung injury scored (F). Lung wet-to-dry weight ratios (G). Protein levels of IL-1β (H), TNF-α (I), CXCL-1 (J), and CXCL-2 (K) in BALF detected using ELISAs. The results presented as mean ± SD. In (D)–(I) and (K), the data were analyzed by a one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD. In (J), the boxes in the boxplots show the medians with 25^th and 75^th percentiles, and the whiskers show the minimum and maximum values. Data are analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis followed by pairwise comparisons using Mann-Whitney U tests. ns, p > 0.05; ∗p < 0.05; ∗∗p < 0.01.