Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 2 pp 707—723

Figure 2. Human seminal fluid improves pathological changes in asthmatic female mice. (A) Changes in Th2-cell-driven allergic responses in asthmatic female mice exposed to human seminal fluid (hSF). White box: control group (n = 3); colored boxes: asthma groups (n = 7 each). Data are presented as means ± SEM. **P < 0.01 and *P < 0.05 versus ovalbumin (OVA) asthma group. (B) Representative images of PAS staining of lungs from asthmatic female mice exposed to hSF. AW: airway. (C) Assessment of airway hyper-responsiveness in asthmatic female mice exposed to hSF. The response to methacholine at each dose was quantified as the average of the peak measurements of airway resistance (Rrs). control group (n = 3, black); OVA asthma groups (n = 5, red); hSF/OVA group (n = 5, blue). Data are presented as means ± SEM. **P < 0.01 and *P < 0.05 versus OVA asthma group. (D) Transcriptional repression of osteopontin and IL-17A in lungs from asthmatic female mice exposed to hSF. White box: control group (n = 3); colored boxes: asthma groups (n = 7 each). Data are presented as means ± SEM. *P < 0.05 versus OVA asthma group. (E) Transcriptional repression of osteopontin by hSF in antigen-stimulated bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells (BM-DCs) of 2-month-old female mice. White box: control group (n = 8); colored boxes: OVA-stimulated groups (n = 8 each). Data are presented as means ± SEM. *P < 0.05 versus OVA group. BM: bone marrow, GM-CSF: granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor.