Figure 2.

Induction of CD44v6 protein expression after bleomycin injury in mice. A, Western blots for expressions of CD44v6 (using anti-CD44v6 (VFF-18 clone) from Chemicon) and β-tubulin (EMD Millipore (AA2)) in the lungs isolated at the indicated days after bleomycin injury are shown for representative results from two animals for each time point. -Fold inductions (relative abundance of CD44v6 normalized to β-tubulin from the Western blots in this figure and from two independent experiments) of CD44v6 in the lungs at different time points after bleomycin injury are shown. The data presented in the relative abundance figure are from three sets of BLMFbs with three independent experiments and are expressed as means ± S.D. (error bars). Statistical analysis was by analysis of variance. *, p ≤ 0.005. B, C57BL/6 young (2 months) mice were subjected to bleomycin lung injury as described under “Experimental procedures.” Representative micrographs illustrate the time course of bleomycin-induced fibrosis by Masson's trichrome blue staining for collagen in the lung tissues harvested at day 0 (tissue section from continuous PBS-treated control mice) and days 21 and 45 after bleomycin-induced lung injury. Representative micrographs (scale bars, 100 μm) show the localization of CD44v6 in the lung sections on day 0 (PBS control) and 21 and 45 days after bleomycin injury.