Figure 1

(a) Wild type (Panx1+^/+) or pannexin 1 globally deficient mice (Panx1^-/-) were injected with naphthalene (200mg/kg) i.p. to cause acute airway epithelial death prior to analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) or lung tissue. (b) Representative H&E staining of lung tissue sections from naïve Panx1+^/+ or Panx1^-/- mice and at day 1 (D1) and D7 post-naphthalene injury, with injured and repairing airway epithelium highlighted by yellow arrows. Grey scale bars, 50μm; black scale bars, 20μm. Dotted red lines reflect insets in naïve images and zoomed in images in D7 naphthalene images. (c) H&E sections were blinded prior to analysis by a lung pathologist (n=3 per group, assessed by t-test, one independent experiment). (d) BALF was acquired at day 1 or day 2 post-naphthalene injury and cellular content analysed for epithelial cells (CD45^-/EpCAM⁺ cells) and their staining with a live-dead (LD) marker (low staining of LD marker are live cells, high staining are dead cells; n=4-6, two independent experiments). (e) Caspase-3 activation was assessed by cleaved caspase-3 staining on lung tissue sections in the absence of injury and on days 1 and 2 after naphthalene epithelial injury (n=4-7, two independent experiments). Black scale bars, 20um. **p<0.01.