Fig. 6
BMGLS facilitates detachment of the mucus layer from the PCL. BMGLS treated NHBE ALI cultures were analyzed for (A, B) the mucus area (given in µm2 per µm membrane length), (C) the AlB intensity (a.u.) per AlB + area, and (D) the relative expression of MUC5AC and MUC5B mRNA. The mucus layer detached from the PCL (A, arrows) and accumulated at different locations across the sample. Differences between groups were computed by One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. Significance was considered at p < 0.05 (*) and p < 0.01 (**) with (#) indicating a trend at p < 0.08. (E) Representative images of MUC5AC and MUC5B in AB-IF double staining. NHBE ALI samples were treated with BMGLS at different concentrations over 3 weeks and histologically processed for AlB-IF based computational analysis targeting MUC5AC (red) and MUC5B (yellow). Nuclei are stained using DAPI (blue). Scale bars, 20 μm. (F-H) BMGLS attenuates MUC5AC in airway mucus