Sustained Elevation of Systemic Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Exacerbation and Remission of Asthma
Figure 4
Analysis of plasma by gelatin zymography showing circulating gelatinolytic activities in healthy controls (HC) and their changes during an asthma acute exacerbation (AE) and subsequent remission (R). (a) A representative zymographic analysis of plasma samples from 3 healthy controls and 2 asthmatic patients suffering acute exacerbation and during remission. Two major bands are visible, corresponding to pro-MMP-2 (72 KDa) and pro-MMP-9 (92 KDa). Pro-MMP-9 activity is higher during an asthma acute exacerbation than during remission, whereas pro-MMP-2 activity remains constant. (b) Box plots of densitometric analyses of the zymographs as pro-MMP-9 activities. The horizontal bars represent median values. *** differences between acute exacerbation or remission and healthy controls; ## differences between acute exacerbation and remission by nonparametric Wilcoxon’s rank sum test.
