Fig. 3: BDNF alleviates ALI through inhibiting inflammation in macrophages.

A Correlation analysis between count values and FPKM values of Bdnf and Il6 in GSE204709 and GSE199546, respectively. B Correlation analysis between BDNF levels in BALF and TNF-α and IL-6 in mice. C Correlation analysis between BDNF levels in human BALF and TNF-α and IL-6. D Primary macrophages were pre-treated with or without 10 nM BDNF for 1 h and then exposed to 500 ng/mL LPS for 6 h. The heatmap shows the transcription levels of more than 40 inflammatory factors detected by PCR array. E Heatmap showing mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory factors Tnf, Il6, Il1b, Ccl2, Ifna1, Ifnb1, and Ifng in lung tissues of mice described in Fig. 2M. F, G Serum (F) and BALF (G) levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IFN-α in the ALI mouse model described in Fig. 2M. H Schematic illustration of mice undergoing macrophage deletion, ALI modeling, and rBDNF injection. I Representative H&E-stained images of lung tissues. J Quantification of lung injury scores for (I). K Lung wet/dry weight ratio. L Total protein levels in BALF samples. M Total cell counts in BALF samples. N Survival curve of mice with or without macrophage deletion and rBDNF injection in an E.coli-induced sepsis model. Data are represented as mean ± SEM by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s test. n = 6 per group (E–G, J–M). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.