Figure 5.

Gene profiling in OPN^−/− mice exposed to asbestos. OPN^+/+ and OPN^−/− mice were exposed to chrysotile asbestos (8 mg/m³ per day) for 9 days. Total RNA was isolated from lung tissue and processed using microarrays. A: Total number of significant gene changes in lung tissue of OPN^+/+ and OPN^−/− asbestos-exposed mice and OPN^−/− air-exposed mice, compared with OPN^+/+ air-exposed mice. B: The number of genes that were significantly altered in lung tissue (P ≤ 0.05 and ≥2-fold compared with air-exposed OPN^+/+ animals) and between asbestos-exposed OPN^+/+ and OPN^−/− mice, categorized by biological function. C: Validation of Plunc and Areg expression by qPCR in whole lung tissue from mice exposed to asbestos for 9 days. Data are reported as fold-change in expression relative to OPN^+/+ air-exposed animals of each target, normalized to the expression of the housekeeping gene Hprt. Open bars: air-exposed animals; black bars: asbestos-exposed animals. *P ≤ 0.05, asbestos versus air exposure; **P ≤ 0.05, asbestos-exposed OPN^+/+ versus OPN^−/−.