Skip to main content
Fig. 5 | Respiratory Research

Fig. 5

From: Acute cigarette smoke exposure activates apoptotic and inflammatory programs but a second stimulus is required to induce epithelial to mesenchymal transition in COPD epithelium

Fig. 5

Cigarette smoke alone induces apoptotic markers in the lungs of mice and increases some mesenchymal marker expression although this is further enhanced by poly (I:C). C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to cigarette smoke (CSE), poly (I:C) (pI:C, 50 μg), a combination of both (CSE + pI:C) or saline controls. One day after the last poly (I:C) challenge, the mice were killed and lung tissue was taken for RNA extraction and gene transcript analysis. The apoptotic markers caspase 3 (a), caspase 7 (b), fas (c) and gsk3b (d) were increased by cigarette smoke alone and no further enhancement was observed in combination with poly (I:C). The epithelial marker e-cadherin (e) was slightly elevated in the presence of cigarette smoke. tgfβ1 (f) expression was clearly upregulated following cigarette smoke exposure and further still when in combination with poly I:C. The mesenchymal markers alpha smooth muscle actin (g), collagen1a1 (h) and fibronectin (i) were also more robustly increased in the combined poly I:C cigarette smoke group. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, **** p < 0.001

Back to article page

Respiratory Research

ISSN: 1465-993X

Contact us