Fig. 1

Effect of LPS exposure on lung function in wild type and Rgs2 deficient animals. a Wild type mice were exposed to aerosolized PBS (20 ml) or LPS from E. coli 0127:B8 (20 ml of 150 μg/ml) for 30 min. The mice were attached to a flexivent apparatus and lung function was analysed, at 3, 6 or 24 h following LPS exposure. Respiratory system resistance (Resistance) and compliance were determined using a snapshot 150 perturbation following inhaled challenge with nebulized PBS (10 µl) and methacholine (MCh) (10 µl of 3, 10, 30, 100, 300 mg/ml). Data (N = 11–13) are plotted as cm H₂O/s/ml (resistance) or ml/cm H₂O (compliance) as mean ± SE. Significance was tested against PBS control using ANOVA with a Dunn’s post test. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. b Wild type (wt) (N = 6) and Rgs2^−/− (N = 3) mice were exposed to aerosolized PBS (20 ml) for 30 min prior to lung function analysis at 3 h. Resistance and compliance were measured following inhaled challenge with nebulized PBS and PBS containing increasing concentrations of MCh. To enable definitive analysis of Rgs2 loss in naïve (non-inflamed) animals, the current data were combined with that for previously analysed PBS exposed/naïve mice [26, 28]. Data (wild type, N = 26; Rgs2^−/−, N = 23) are plotted as cm H₂O/s/ml (resistance) or ml/cm H₂O (compliance) as mean ± SE. Significance between wild type and Rgs2^−/− animals was tested by Mann–Whitney U test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. c Wild type (wt) and Rgs2^−/− mice were exposed to aerosolized PBS or LPS from E. coli 0127:B8 (20 ml at a concentration of 150 μg/ml) for 30 min and subjected to lung function analysis 3 or 24 h post-LPS exposure. Resistance and compliance was measured following inhalation of nebulized PBS and PBS containing increasing concentrations of MCh. Data (N = 6–7) are plotted as cm H₂O/s/ml (resistance) or ml/cm H₂O (compliance) as mean ± SE. Significance between wild type and Rgs2^−/− animals was tested by Mann–Whitney U test. *P < 0.05