Fig. 2

LPS-induced mucous cell metaplasia and mucous production is augmented in LPS-pretreated F344/N rats. a Representative photomicrographs of axial airway sections from rats instilled with 0, 1, 10 or 100 μg LPS as secondary challenge following the saline (S/0, S/1, S/10 or S/100) or LPS (L/0, L/1, L/10 or L/100) pretreatment, and stained with Alcian Blue (AB) for acidic mucins and counterstained with hematoxylin and eosin (AB/H&E). b Quantification of the number of AB+ mucous cells analyzed per mm basal lamina (BL). c Densitometric quantification of the volume of intraepithelial stored mucosubstances (Vs) analyzed per mm² of BL. d Quantification of the number of total airway epithelial cells per mm BL. e Representative micrographs of axial airway sections from S/100 and L/100 rats. The sections show Scgb1A1 (green) and Muc5AC (red) positivity with DAPI-stained (blue) nuclei. Error bar indicates mean ± SEM (n = 5–6 per group). * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 compared to S/0 or L/0 group unless otherwise indicated