Fig. 2.

αT-cat localizes to cardiomyocyte junctions along pulmonary veins and contributes to lung mechanics. A: immunofluorescence of murine pulmonary arteries (PA), surrounded by smooth muscle, and the pulmonary veins (PV), surrounded by striated cardiomyocytes (arrows), as visualized by staining with antibody to the intermediate filament desmin (shown in green); nuclei (blue, Hoechst). B: immunofluorescence double labeling of PV of WT and αT-cat KO mice with antibodies to αT-cat and αE-cat. αT-cat KO veins only express αE-cat at cell-cell junctions (arrows). C: quantification of lung compliance, resistance, and elastance by ventilation. D: pressure-volume curves for WT and αT-cat KO mice generated with constant volumes (PVs-V). E: calculation of the area under the pressure-volume curve for WT and αT-cat KO mice for those generated with constant volume (PVs-V) and constant pressure (PVs-P). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, by Student's t-test. Error bars represent SE.