Figure 4.
C/EBPα influences the expression of antiproteases during repair. “Peptidase inhibitor activity” was one of the significantly enriched functionalities of the mRNAs induced at 72 hours in the control mice, but not in the CebpαΔ/Δ mice, as assessed by mRNA microarray. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed on the mRNAs from the terminal bronchiolar epithelial cells collected by LCM. (A) The serine protease inhibitor (Spink5, Serpina3n, and Slpi) and cysteine protease inhibitor (Cstb) mRNAs were significantly increased in control mice compared with CebpαΔ/Δ mice 72 hours after injury. Spink5 mRNA was most significantly influenced by the deletion of Cebpα. Note that the scale of the vertical axis for Spink5 is different from that of the others. (B) Protease, Dpep2, and Lgmn of Cebpα at 72 hours after injury. Mean value of control mice at 0 hour = 1 (n = 3/group). *P < 0.05 versus control mice, according to the Mann-Whitney U test.