Figure 4.

Effect of ROF or ROL administration, with or without FOR or SAL coadministration, on mucus production. (A and B) Morphometric quantification of the mucin volume density, and (C and D) representative microscopic images of mucin (red) content in the airway epithelia (green) assessed from saline-challenged (CTL) and VEH-treated Ova S/C PNMT-KO and WT mice. Groups of Ova S/C PNMT-KO (solid bars) and WT mice (open bars) were administered different drug combinations, as indicated. In these groups of mice, either (A) ROF (5 mg/kg) or (B) ROL (5 mg/kg) were administered alone via oral gavage or coadministered with twice-daily dosages of either FOR (5 μg/kg, intraperitoneally) or SAL (1.5 μg/kg, intraperitoneally) for 12 days. Data represent the mean (±SEM) from n = 5–8 in each group (PNMT-KO) and from n = 5–13 in each group (WT). *P < 0.05 significance as compared with respective CTL; ^#P < 0.05 significance as compared with respective treatment groups in the absence of ROF or ROL. (C) Representative images of mucin content by either FOR or SAL administration. (D) Representative images of mucin content effect after phosphodiesterase 4 inhibition by either ROF or ROL administration. Scale bars: 50 μM.