Therapeutic Effects of Chinese Herbal Formula (PTQX) on NC/Nga Mice with Atopic Dermatitis-Like Skin Lesions

Figure 4

Effect of PTQX on 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene- (DNCB-) induced mast cell infiltration and scratching frequency in the dermal lesions of NC/Nga mice. (a) Representative images depicting the histological features of skin samples collected on day 21. Toluidine blue (TB) staining was used to identify mast cells (arrows). Cells were counted under a microscope at 100x, 200x, and 400x magnification. (b) Mast cells were counted in five randomly selected sites of TB-stained sections. (c) Effect of PTQX on the DNCB-induced scratching incidence in NC/Nga mice. The scratching time was evaluated on the penultimate day of the experiment (day 20). The results are expressed as the means ± standard errors of the means of 3 mice. Statistically significant differences with respect to the control and vehicle groups are expressed as , and , , respectively.

(a)

(b)

(c)