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. 2013 Jan 29;8(1):e54750. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054750

Figure 9. LPS inoculation and chronic EtOH ingestion enhances the rate of alveolar fluid clearance.

Figure 9

A) In vivo assessment of lung fluid volumes after saline challenge in EtOH (n = 13), isocaloric control (maltodextrin, n = 13) and C57Bl/6 mice (n = 10) indicate similar patterns of lung fluid clearance; albeit an observed delay in clearance in EtOH mice compared to maltodextrin between 3.5–4 hrs following saline challenge. B) In vivo assessment of 1 mg/mL LPS inoculated animals chronically fed an EtOH diet (n = 4) cleared fluid at faster rates compared to isocaloric control groups of animals fed maltodextrin (n = 5) between 190–220 min following saline challenge (as indicated by solid line, p<0.05). LPS inoculation of EtOH animals showed significantly elevated rates of alveolar fluid clearance compared to LPS inoculated C57Bl/6 mice beginning at 20 minutes following saline challenge (denoted by dashed line, p<0.05). C) Co-instillation of 1 µM NSC23766 and LPS in chronic ethanol mice indicates that small G protein Rac1 plays an important role in alcohol lung and alveolar fluid balance. Animals instilled with LPS and NSC23766 (n = 5) failed to clear saline challenge to the extent observed in LPS (n = 4) inoculated EtOH animals; p<0.05 as indicated.