Fig. 2

Endothelial glycocalyx impairment is involved in SU5416-induced rat emphysema model. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (~ 300 g) were treated with VEGF-R antagonist SU5416 (20 mg/kg) subcutaneously 3 times per week for 3 weeks. A Representative haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining images of airspace. Scale bar = 50 μm. Alveolar size was measured by mean linear intercept (MLI) (n = 5). B Cleaved caspase-3 antibody was used as the mark of cell apoptosis. Group data of cleaved caspase-3 positive cells per field (n = 5). Scale bar = 50 μm. C Representative immunofluorescence staining images of rat lung sections. Heparan sulfate and Chondroitin sulfate antibodies were used as glycocalyx specific antigens, and CD31 was used as the mark of endothelial cell. Nuclei were visualized with 4ʹ,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). Scale bar = 20 μm. Quantitative analysis of fluorescence intensity for heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate and syndecan-1 (n = 5). D ELISA analysis of blood and BALF samples (n = 5). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. n.s., not significant