Figure 3. Increased PAR-2 dependent calcium responses in control bronchial smooth muscle cells over-expressing PAR-2.

The effects of lentivirus over-expressing PAR-2 (squared bars) in control bronchial smooth muscle cells were evaluated as compared to both control bronchial smooth muscle cells transduced by control lentivirus (hatched bars) and non transduced asthmatic bronchial smooth muscle cells (black bars). PAR-2 surface protein expression was assessed by flow cytometry (A). Relative calcium response ([Ca²⁺]_i peak, B) and area under the curve (AUC [Ca²⁺]_i, C) were assessed by microspectrofluorimetry from the cell response to 10⁻⁴ M SLIGKV-NH₂. Bronchial smooth muscle cells were obtained from asthmatic (black bars, n = 3) and control subjects (white bars, n = 3). Results are expressed as mean ± SEM. Calcium responses were obtained from a range of 9 to 35 cells per patient. * P<0.05 using paired Wilcoxon-rank tests and Mann & Whitney test.