Figure 5.

Differences in chitinase activity does not impact lung physiology during chronic exposure to purified Aspergillus fumigatus chitin. Male C57BL/6 wild-type (WT), mice overexpressing acidic mammalian chitinase (SPAM), and mice deficient in acidic mammalian chitinase (Chia^−/−) were subjected to the chronic fungal chitin exposure as in Fig. 3A. Twenty-four hours after the last challenge, airway function was analyzed via mechanical ventilation using the flexiVent pulmonary function system. Airway resistance (A) and total lung resistance (B) between chitin-exposed WT vs. SPAM mice vs. Chia^−/− mice. The figures illustrate cumulative data from two to three independent studies (n = 4 or 5 mice/group, per study). Data are expressed as means ± SE. *P value of <0.05 when comparing asthmatic WT mice with SPAM mice (two-way ANOVA). [Image created with BioRender.com.]