Fig. 4

SiRNA-IL-11 transiently transfection attenuates bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension in transgenic Tie2-GFP mice. Wild-type (WT) siRNA(−) Tie2-GFP mice and IL-11-KO siRNA-IL-11 Tie2-GFP mice received a single intratracheal dose of bleomycin (1.5 U/kg) on day 1 (n = 11) during 14 days. siRNA-IL-11 was administered intravenously and intranasally three times a week from day 1 to day 14. At day 14 the following parameters were measured. A Masson’s trichrome histological images are showed. Scale bar: 100 µm. B Ashcroft score lung fibrotic index, C hydroxyproline amount in lung tissue D right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) mmHg, E right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy measured by the ratio of RV/left ventricular (LV) + septo in mg/mg, F pulmonary artery remodeling and G inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured. H Immunohistochemical analysis of αSMA, IL-11 and IL-11Rα. Scale bar: 50 µm. Black arrows show pulmonary arteries. I Co-immunofluorescence of αSMA/Tie2-GFP. Scale bar: 25 µm. White arrows indicates co-localizations. Data are presented as scatter dot blot with median and interquartile range values. P-values are based on the Kruskal–Wallis test and Dunn’s post-hoc test for multiple comparison