Fig. 2

Whey peptide suppressed elastase-induced emphysematous changes. Histologically in the control diet groups, elastase-instillation induced emphysematous lesions with enlargement and disruption of alveolar walls (a and b). These changes were remarkably suppressed by whey peptide (c), while these were not suppressed by standard enteral diet (d). Changes in mean linear intercept (MLI), one of the morphologic parameters, were shown at e. In the control diet groups these were enlarged by elastase-instillation. The enlargements were suppressed by the whey peptide, while those were not suppressed by the standard enteral diet. Results are expressed as mean ± standard deviation of mean and compared using Mann–Whitney U tests. The sham group consisted of phosphate buffered saline-instilled mice on a control diet