Figure 2

Expression of α-SMA mRNA following 96 hours of co-culture. Expression of α-SMA by HLFs cultured alone was 1.9 fold higher than by HLFs co-cultured with healthy BECs (p = 0.008; *). α-SMA expression by HLFs co-cultured with asthmatic BECs was 2-fold higher than by HLFs co-cultured with healthy BECs (p = 0.002; **). There was no difference in α-SMA expression between HLFs cultured alone and HLFs co-cultured with asthmatic BECs.