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. 2011 Jun;178(6):2536–2546. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2011.02.045

Figure 7.

Figure 7

Lungs from VEC Cx43−/−/Cx40−/− mice are enriched in fibroblasts. A: Lung sections from mice at age 8, 16, 24, and 32 weeks were stained with Sytox Blue, and the number of nuclei per 10 μm2 were scored. At age 32 weeks, VEC Cx43−/−/Cx40−/− mice demonstrated significantly more nuclei than did the other strains examined, indicating enhanced cell proliferation (P < 0.05). B–E: Immunofluorescence analysis of paraffin-embedded lung sections from 32-week-old C57Bl/6 (B), VEC Cx43−/− (C), Cx40−/− (D), and VEC Cx43−/−/Cx40−/− (E) mice were immunostained for the fibroblast marker prolyl 4-hydroxylase. Scale bars = 60 μm. F: Quantification of fibroblast immunofluorescence from stained lung sections. Compared with the other strains examined, lungs from VEC Cx43−/−/Cx40−/− mice demonstrated significantly more fibroblasts at 32 weeks. *P < 0.01. The fibroblast content of lungs from single-knockout VEC Cx43−/− and Cx40−/− mice also had significantly more fibroblasts than did wild-type lungs at age 32 weeks. **P < 0.05.