Fig 3. Single-lobe injury created by a longer instillation catheter.

A) Mice were orotracheally intubated with a 20G angiocatheter terminating in the trachea (brown). The mice were then placed in the left lateral recumbent position and a 59mm PE10 catheter was inserted into the endotracheal catheter (note this is 8mm longer than the catheter used for acid aspiration experiments). The mice were then kept in left lateral recumbent for 20 minutes after instillation. B) Mice were instilled as in A, with the instillate containing 1mg/kg of LPS, 24 hours later, Evans Blue dye was injected followed by sacrifice 2 hours later, with visible photography of the lobes. C) Mice were treated as in B, but into the LPS mixture we added 100-nanometer diameter polystyrene beads that were covalently coated with I-125-labeled-rat-IgG. Immediately after instillation, the mice were sacrificed, followed by measurement of each lobe in a gamma counter. Each data point represents mean ± s.e.m (n = 3). * p<0.0001, one-way ANOVA.