Figure 5.

Analysis of alveolar elastin breaks in lungs of ApoE^−/− mice fed WD and exposed to SHS only (WD + SHS) or treated with neutrophil targeted siRNA for MMP-9 (WD + SHS/Ly6G siRNA MMP-9). Black arrows point out strand breaks in alveolar walls (a). Destruction of alveolar walls was assessed by counting numbers of breaks in elastin fibers (b). The treatment group scored significantly lower than the control groups (p < 0.001). The non-parametric Mann–Whitney test was used to assess statistical significance between groups, four to five mice per group were analyzed. * Significant difference detected.