Figure 4

PIO, DEX, or constitutively active PPAR-γ effectively reduces mucin production andGob-5andMuc5-acexpression. PIO, DEX, or vehicle (Veh) was administered daily (days 14–21). All measurements were carried out 24 h following the final CRA challenge. A. Lung tissue (8 mice/group) was fixed and stained with periodic acid Schiff's (PAS) to examine the extent of mucin production. B. Quantitative PCR was used to measure expression of Gob-5 and Muc5-ac mRNA (8 mice/group) from lung tissue. For each gene, the control-group ratio of its expression to that of β-actin was assigned a value of 1. *P < 0.05 compared to vehicle treatment. C. AdCMV-VP16-PPAR-γ2 (VP16) or an empty control vector (AdCtrl) was administered as described in Materials and Methods. Quantitative PCR was used to measure expression of Gob-5 and Muc5-ac mRNA (5 mice/group) from lung tissue as mentioned. Effect on mucin production was also observed (data not shown). *P < 0.05 compared to AdCtrl administration.