Experimental data from non invasive plethysmography, bronchoalveolar lavage, and histological parameters

Experimental data from non invasive plethysmography, bronchoalveolar lavage, and histological parameters for each group. Sensitized mice from group A (Days 35?7) exhibited features of BHR to methacholine, as assessed by a significant increase in Penh ratio, characteristics of Autophagy Airway inflammation, as assessed by the increased percentage of both eosinophils and lymphocytes within the BAL fluid, but no evidence of bronchial remodeling as compared to control animals (Table 1, Figure 3A). Sensitized mice from group B (Days 75?7) also exhibited features of BHR to methacholine assessed by non invasive plethysmography (Table 1, Figure 4A). Similar results were obtained using invasive plethysmography (Figure 4). These mice also displayed more pronounced characteristics of airway inflammation, and additionally patterns of bronchial remodeling as assessed by the increased basal membrane thickness, wall area and bronchial smooth muscle area (Table 1, Figure 3B). In contrast, sensitized mice from group C (Days 110?112) did not show any evidence of BHR or airway inflammation but a significant increase in all previous markers of airway remodeling (Table 1, Figure 3C).Validation of a Semi-automatic Method for PBA AssessmentPBA measurements obtained with the semi-automatic method showed a good agreement with PBA values obtained with the manual method (Figure 5). The Pearson’s correlation coefficient was 0.963. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.933. The measurement error between the two methods was 19 HU. Standard deviations of measurements did not correlate with mean values.Comparisons of Micro-CT ParametersThere was no difference in TLA between sensitized and control mice whatever the group (Figure 6A). Conversely, PBA was significantly higher in sensitized mice but only from the group B exhibiting both inflammation and remodeling (Figure 6B). However, normalized PBA was significantly higher in sensitized mice from both groups B and C (Figure 6C). Indeed, in group B,Figure 6. Comparison of micro-CT parameters. A) Total lung attenuation, B) peribronchial mean attenuation (PBA), and C) normalized PBA are presented for control (white box plots) and OVA-sensitized (grey box plots) mice at each endpoint. Box plots summarise medians with 25 and 75 interquartiles. Error bars represent 5th and 95th percentiles. *p,0.05 using Wilcoxon’s signed-rank tests between control and OVA. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048493.gmedians of normalized PBA increased from 0.16 to 0.37 (p,0.001), and, in group C, from 0.17 to 0.24 (p = 0.009) in control and sensitized mice, respectively. Typical micro-CT images from each group are illustrated (Figure 7). Since theseIn Vivo Micro-CT Assessment of Airway RemodelingIn Vivo Micro-CT Assessment of Airway RemodelingFigure 7. Typical coronal curved reformatted micro-CT images of the bronchial tree with numerical values of peribronchial mean attenuation (PBA) and normalized PBA. Images were obtained from control mice (left) and OVA-sensitized (right) at different Epigenetic Reader Domain endpoints: A) Day 36, B) Day 76 and C) Day 111. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048493.gFigure 8. Typical axial native micro-CT images of control (left) and OVA-sensitized mice (right) at different endpoints: A) Day 36, B) Day 76 and C) Day 111. The insert at the right bottom of each panel corresponds to a selected part of a new image generated by normalizing each pixel attenuation value by the total lung attenuation value. The green circles delineating the lumen and the 8.Experimental data from non invasive plethysmography, bronchoalveolar lavage, and histological parameters for each group. Sensitized mice from group A (Days 35?7) exhibited features of BHR to methacholine, as assessed by a significant increase in Penh ratio, characteristics of airway inflammation, as assessed by the increased percentage of both eosinophils and lymphocytes within the BAL fluid, but no evidence of bronchial remodeling as compared to control animals (Table 1, Figure 3A). Sensitized mice from group B (Days 75?7) also exhibited features of BHR to methacholine assessed by non invasive plethysmography (Table 1, Figure 4A). Similar results were obtained using invasive plethysmography (Figure 4). These mice also displayed more pronounced characteristics of airway inflammation, and additionally patterns of bronchial remodeling as assessed by the increased basal membrane thickness, wall area and bronchial smooth muscle area (Table 1, Figure 3B). In contrast, sensitized mice from group C (Days 110?112) did not show any evidence of BHR or airway inflammation but a significant increase in all previous markers of airway remodeling (Table 1, Figure 3C).Validation of a Semi-automatic Method for PBA AssessmentPBA measurements obtained with the semi-automatic method showed a good agreement with PBA values obtained with the manual method (Figure 5). The Pearson’s correlation coefficient was 0.963. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.933. The measurement error between the two methods was 19 HU. Standard deviations of measurements did not correlate with mean values.Comparisons of Micro-CT ParametersThere was no difference in TLA between sensitized and control mice whatever the group (Figure 6A). Conversely, PBA was significantly higher in sensitized mice but only from the group B exhibiting both inflammation and remodeling (Figure 6B). However, normalized PBA was significantly higher in sensitized mice from both groups B and C (Figure 6C). Indeed, in group B,Figure 6. Comparison of micro-CT parameters. A) Total lung attenuation, B) peribronchial mean attenuation (PBA), and C) normalized PBA are presented for control (white box plots) and OVA-sensitized (grey box plots) mice at each endpoint. Box plots summarise medians with 25 and 75 interquartiles. Error bars represent 5th and 95th percentiles. *p,0.05 using Wilcoxon’s signed-rank tests between control and OVA. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048493.gmedians of normalized PBA increased from 0.16 to 0.37 (p,0.001), and, in group C, from 0.17 to 0.24 (p = 0.009) in control and sensitized mice, respectively. Typical micro-CT images from each group are illustrated (Figure 7). Since theseIn Vivo Micro-CT Assessment of Airway RemodelingIn Vivo Micro-CT Assessment of Airway RemodelingFigure 7. Typical coronal curved reformatted micro-CT images of the bronchial tree with numerical values of peribronchial mean attenuation (PBA) and normalized PBA. Images were obtained from control mice (left) and OVA-sensitized (right) at different endpoints: A) Day 36, B) Day 76 and C) Day 111. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048493.gFigure 8. Typical axial native micro-CT images of control (left) and OVA-sensitized mice (right) at different endpoints: A) Day 36, B) Day 76 and C) Day 111. The insert at the right bottom of each panel corresponds to a selected part of a new image generated by normalizing each pixel attenuation value by the total lung attenuation value. The green circles delineating the lumen and the 8.