Fig 6. Inflamed, non-fibrotic bronchus with tenascin C expression.

A) This bronchus shows no evidence of fibrosis, but exhibits a mild infiltrate of mononuclear cells and is lined by an attenuated epithelium with a reactive and regenerative appearance. Absence of inflammation in the upper portion of bronchus (arrow). H&E, 10x original objective magnification. B) Early tenascin C expression is indicated by the linear green band located just beneath the epithelial lining. Note that there is no tenascin C expression in the upper portion of the bronchus (arrow), in which there is little or no inflammation and less attenuation of the epithelial lining (compare to A). The inset shows a bronchus from one of the control lungs, with absence of any tenascin C expression. Immunofluorescent stains were used to label tenascin C (green) and smooth muscle actin (red).