Fig. 8

Effect of acute injury with H1N1 influenza infection on WT and Aldh2 ^−/− mice. WT (n = 8) and Aldh2 ^−/− (n = 7) mice were inoculated with H1N1 virus and observed for 8 days. Representative H&E images from H1N1-infected mouse lungs showing extensive inflammatory cell infiltration and pneumonia in both WT (a) and Aldh2 ^−/− (b) lungs. Representative immune fluorescence stained images showing areas of damaged epithelial cells in the lung parenchyma in WT (c) and Aldh2 ^−/− (d) lungs. (note the presence of few alveolar type II cells, (SPC-green)). The damage is also observed in the airway lining (note the reduced nuclear density, fewer club cells (CC10-red), and short ciliated cells (β-tubulin-cyan)) in WT (e) and Aldh2 ^−/− (f). Viral load comparison between WT (g) and Aldh2 ^−/− (h) mice by staining for hemagglutinin (HA-green), showed no difference. Scale bars: 50 μm. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue) (c-h)