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. 2018 Sep 6;3(17):e120994. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.120994

Figure 7. Accumulated airway elastase–exposed mucus is anchored in the goblet cells and separate bacteria from the epithelial cells.

Figure 7

(A) Immunostaining of a paraffin section with specific antibodies against Muc5b (green) and Muc5ac (red), in addition to nuclear stain (blue). Both Muc5b and Muc5ac seem to be attached inside goblet cells. Representative of 4 mice. Scale bar: 20 μm. (B) Immunostaining of a paraffin section from a PPE-exposed mouse with specific antibodies against Muc5b (green) and tubulin (red) to visualize cilia, in addition to nuclear stain (blue). The cilia are not compressed by the accumulated mucus. Representative of 3 mice. Scale bar: 20 μm. (C) PPE-exposed mice were instilled with P. aeruginosa, and the lungs isolated, fixed in Carnoy, and immunostained for Muc5ac (red), bacteria (white), and nuclei (blue). (D) P. aeruginosa were instilled in saline-treated mice (control) and stained as in C. Representative of 6 PPE-exposed and 3 saline-exposed mice.