Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2008 Nov 3;183(3):429–439. doi: 10.1083/jcb.200801186

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

© 2008 Mebratu et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.jcb.org/misc/terms.shtml). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

PMC Copyright notice

Figure 5. — IFNγ and Bik are crucial for the resolution of epithelial cell hyperplasia and mucous cell metaplasia during prolonged exposure to allergen. Mice were immunized with ovalbumin/alum on days 1 and 7 and were exposed to ovalbumin aerosols for 5, 12, or 15 d. After sacrifice, the lungs of each mouse were fixed under constant pressure perfusion and cut in 4-mm slices from distal to caudal. Slices were embedded in paraffin, and tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin or AB/periodic acid Schiff to count the total cell number or mucous cell per millimeter of basal lamina, respectively. (A and B) The number of epithelial cells per millimeter of basal lamina was significantly reduced in wild-type mice but not in IFNγ^−/− (A) or bik^−/− (B) mice at 15 d of exposure. Error bars indicate ± SEM. (C) Representative micrographs from bik^+/+- and bik^−/−-sensitized mice exposed to allergen for 5, 12, and 15 d display that the density of epithelial cell nuclei is reduced in bik^+/+ but not in bik^−/− airways. (D) The number of mucous cells per millimeter of basal lamina was significantly reduced in bik^+/+ but not in bik^−/− mice. (E) Representative micrographs from bik^+/+ and bik^−/− mice. Error bars indicate group means ± SEM (n = 5 mice per group). (F) Representative photomicrographs and quantification showing that activated ERK1/2 is found in the nuclei in bik^+/+ and bik^−/− mice exposed to allergen for 5 d, but nuclear phospho-ERK is only observed in airways of bik^−/− mice at 12 and 15 d. Arrows denote nuclear phospho-ERK1/2. Error bars indicate group means ± SEM (n = 3 mice/group). Representative photomicrographs showing that total ERK1/2 is uniformly distributed in airways from bik^+/+ and bik^−/− mice exposed to allergen for 5, 12, and 15 d. *, P < 0.05; significantly different from wild-type CTs.