Figure 3.
Radiation-induced pulmonary inflammatory response of C57BL/6J WT, Tlr2,4−/− and Il17−/− mice. Following a single dose of 18 Gy thoracic irradiation, surviving mice were euthanized 16, 20, 26 or 35 weeks later. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected at necropsy and cells were morphologically identified from cytospin preparations. (a) PMN percentages (mean ± SE) for groups of 4–8 mice. *Indicates a significant difference compared to corresponding control values, #indicates a significant difference compared to C57BL/6J values at the same time point (P-value < 0.05). (b) Correlation of BAL PMN percentages and fibrosis scores in animals euthanized due to respiratory distress (p-value < 0.001).