Amelioration of Cigarette Smoke-Induced Mucus Hypersecretion and Viscosity by Dendrobium officinale Polysaccharides In Vitro and In Vivo

Figure 6

Effect of DOPs on CS-induced goblet cell hyperplasia in rat lungs. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were exposed to sham air (as control) or cigarette smoke for 56 days. At day 29, rats were subdivided as (a) SA: sham air with water (as control); (b) CS: cigarette smoke with water; (c) CD: cigarette smoke with DOPs (200 mg/kg b.wt.); and (d) CN: cigarette smoke with NAC (500 mg/kg b.wt.) via oral gavage daily for the remaining duration. (a–d) Representative images of cartilaginous airways in the rat lung sections stained with Alcian Blue/Periodic Acid-Schiff (AB/PAS). . Goblet cells appear as purple staining (arrows) over epithelium. AB/PAS staining revealed increased goblet cell hyperplasia after CS exposure and DOPs or NAC reduced the CS-induced goblet cell hyperplasia. (e) Quantification of AB/PAS-positive cells per length of epithelium for goblet cells of different groups. Values are expressed as (). and for one-way ANOVA test with post hoc analysis (Bonferroni).

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