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. 2014 Feb 13;9(2):e86945. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086945

Figure 4. Increased asthmatic bronchial smooth muscle cell proliferation following repeated PAR-2 stimulations.

Figure 4

Proliferation was measured using BrdU incorporation following stimulation for 1 or 3 days by 10−4 M SLIGKV-NH2 or VKGILS-NH2 (A). Bronchial smooth muscle cells were obtained from asthmatic (black bars, n = 5) and control subjects (white bars, n = 5). PAR-2 expression was assessed by flow cytometry following stimulation for 1 or 3 days by 10−4 M SLIGKV-NH2 or VKGILS-NH2 (B). Normalized median fluorescence intensities were calculated by dividing median fluorescence intensity of PAR-2 by that of isotype control. Bronchial smooth muscle cells were obtained from asthmatic (black bars, n = 6) and control subjects (white bars, n = 6). Relative calcium response was assessed by microspectrofluorimetry from the cell response to 10−4 M SLIGKV-NH2 following stimulation for 1 or 3 days by 10−4 M SLIGKV-NH2 (C). Bronchial smooth muscle cells were obtained from asthmatic (black bars, n = 3) and control subjects (white bars, n = 3). Calcium responses were obtained from a range of 16 to 35 cells per patient. Proliferation was measured using BrdU incorporation following stimulation for 1 or 3 days by 10−4 M SLIGKV-NH2 or VKGILS-NH2 (D). Bronchial smooth muscle cells obtained from control subjects were transduced with control lentivirus (hatched bars, n = 6) or lentivirus over-expressing PAR-2 (squared bars, n = 6). Results are expressed as mean ± SEM. *P<0.05 using paired Wilcoxon-rank tests and Mann & Whitney tests.