Figure 3

Acute cigarette smoke model (prophylactic model). A. To explore the effects of a specific p38 MAPK inhibitor, C57BL/6 mice were exposed to air or CS for 3 days, and were treated by intra-peritoneal injection with vehicle (dimethysulfoxide) or SB203580 (45 mg/kg) 30 min before every CS exposure for 3 days as prophylaxis (n = 6). B-E. SB203580 significantly suppressed the increase in total cell counts and neutrophil counts in BALF. F. SB203580 significantly suppressed the lung mRNA expression levels of TNF-α, MMP-12, and MIP-2. G. SB203580 significantly suppressed the lung protein levels of KC, MIP-1α, IL-1β, and IL-6. H.I. SB203580 significantly suppressed the ssDNA-positive and cleaved caspase-3-positive cells in the alveolar septa as assessed by immunohistochemistry. J. SB203580 significantly suppressed the lung 8-OHdG production as assessed by an ELISA. *p < 0.05 compared with non-smoke group. †p < 0.05 compared with smoke group. n = 6 for each experimental set.