Fig. 10

After 20 weeks of exposure, intestinal microbiota from patients with COPD induced airway remodeling and mucus hypersecretion in recipient mice. a Western blots of lung sections show that the expression levels of claudin 1, α smooth-muscle actin (α-SMA), neutrophil elastase (NE), and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) increased markedly in the COPD III–IV group in comparison with the healthy controls and COPD I–II fecal microbiota transplantation mice. b Representative western blots showing increased MUC5AC in the lungs of mice that received fecal microbiota transplantation from COPD III–IV patients. Higher levels of MUC2 were observed in both COPD FMT mouse groups. Significance was determined by ANOVA, and p values were corrected using the Bonferroni method. Results are expressed as mean ± SD, n = 10 mice. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01