Fig. 3

Expression of mediators, determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Levels of mRNA for various mediators were compared in endothelial cells from saline and bleomycin-treated mouse lungs. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed using three or four independently prepared cDNA samples from endothelial cells harvested from saline or bleomycin-treated lungs on days 7 and 21. Gene expression was calculated asΔCt, the Ct of a gene of interest minus the Ct of GAPDH from the same sample. Results were normalized to expression levels in endothelial cells from untreated lungs at day 0 and are means from three experiments. Data are means ± standard error of the mean for three or four mice. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, compared with saline-treated mice