Fig. 1
From: Cigarette smoke and electronic cigarettes differentially activate bronchial epithelial cells
TCIG-exposure and ECIG differentially inhibit host defense. Calu-3 cells on transwell plates were exposed to TCIG or ECIG and infected with PAOI. 6 h after exposure and infection the highest number of bacteria was collected from TCIG-exposed cells, while ECIG-exposure only caused a moderate increase in bacterial counts (a). The treatment with TCIG induced an increased translocation of FITC-Dextran from the apical to the basolateral compartment, which is independent of infection with PAOI (b). The reduced host defense of TCIG-exposed samples correlated with a reduced expression of the antimicrobial peptides hBD1 and hBD2, which is induced after bacterial stimulation and not influenced by ECIG-vapor (c). N = 6, one-way ANOVA, Tukey-Kramer adjusted post-hoc t-test, * p < 0,05, ** p < 0,01, *** p < 0,001