Figure 2.

DAS181 effectively removes sialic acid from ex vivo human bronchi tissue. Fresh human bronchi sections were treated with vehicle (a) or DAS181 at 5μg/cm² (b) for 2 h at 37°C, washed, fixed and then sectioned before immediate detection of α2,6-sialic acid levels with lectin SNA. In separate experiments fresh human bronchi sections were treated with vehicle (c) or DAS181 at 10μg/cm² (d) for 10 min at 37°C, followed by fixation and detection of α2,6-sialic acid levels as above. Red/dark staining represents sites of high α2,6-sialic acid levels. The arrow in (a) shows the epithelial surface of ciliated cells appearing as a red/dark line, and the arrowhead in (b) shows the intracellular mucin of goblet cells appearing as a red/dark globule. This figure appears in colour in the online version of JAC and in black and white in the printed version of JAC.