Fig. 3.

Mouse precision cut lung slices (PCLS) pretreated with a gelsolin (GSN) peptide demonstrated reduced methacholine (MCh)-induced airway constriction. A and B: peripheral airway was first contracted with 300 nM MCh, then incubated with 10 µM control (CTL; A) or GSN peptide (B) for 15 min. Subsequent MCh-induced contractions in the presence of peptides were compared with the 1st MCh-induced contractions. Representative images (top) from the data plotted in tracing (bottom) are shown, with corresponding numbered time points (1–3). corresponds to airway before stimulation (1: Resting), contraction in response to 300 nM MCh (2: MCh), and subsequent MCh contraction after pretreatment with peptides (3: MCh + control CTL peptide or GSN peptide). C: prepeptide MCh contraction (time point indicated as 2) was not different from postpeptide MCh contraction in control peptide treated lung slices. D: gelsolin peptide significantly attenuated postpeptide MCh-induced contraction (n = 10–11 slices; n = 3 mice for each group; **P < 0.01, Wilcoxon signed rank test to compare before and after peptide treatment).