Figure 2
From: Caveolin-3 differentially orchestrates cholinergic and serotonergic constriction of murine airways
Ultrastructure of caveolae in airway smooth muscle from cav-3+/+ and cav-3−/− mice. Representative images for tracheae of cav-3+/+ mice (WT, n = 4 animals) and cav-3−/− (KO, n = 6 animals). (a-a’) Cav-3+/+ mice. Numerous caveolae are located in groups at the plasma membrane of tracheal smooth muscle cells (SMC). (b-b’) Cav-3−/− mice. Tracheal SMC have the same number of caveolae. Caveolae = arrowhead. (c) Quantification of caveolae in the tracheal SMC from cav-3+/+ and cav-3−/− mice. Multiple electron micrographs were obtained for each tissue, and both the number of caveolae and total length of plasma membrane present were quantified in each image. Caveolae were counted as omega-shaped membrane profiles open at the cell surface. (d) Real-time PCR for EHD-2 in cav-3+/+ and cav-3−/− mouse tracheae, relative expression is presented as ΔCT compared to β-actin. Lower ΔCT reflects higher expression. (e) Densitometry from EHD2 western blots compared to β-tubulin, to allow distribution of EHD2 protein to be compared in cav-3+/+ and cav-3−/− mouse tracheae. Bars represent SEM, values are means from separate experiments (n). P-values were calculated using an Student’s unpaired t-test.
