Figure 1

Chronic alcohol ingestion increased expression of TGFβ1 in the alveolar macrophage. (A) Gene expression of TGFβ1 in rat alveolar macrophages and epithelial cells. Cells were isolated from control- and alcohol-fed rats as described in the Methods. Gene expression of TGFβ1 was normalized to 18S. N = 3; * indicates p < 0.05 compared with macrophages from control-fed group. Each value represents the mean ± SEM. (B) Percentage of positive cells for membrane TGFβ1 as analyzed by flow cytometry in freshly isolated alveolar macrophages and epithelial cells from rats fed control- and alcohol-diet. (C) Immunofluorescence staining of alveolar macrophages from rats fed control- or alcohol-diet that were stained with anti-TGFβ1 antibody and Hoechst for nuclear staining. Control IgG did not show any staining. (D) TGFβ1 protein in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and cells from rats fed alcohol-diet was measured using ELISA as described in the Methods. N = 3; * indicates p < 0.05 compared with the lavage.