Fig. 1

TBI induced acute lung injury and exMt accumulation in BALF. (A) Visible cerebral damage in the right parietal lobe and hemorrhage in lung tissue. (B) Representative H&E images (scale bars: 100 μm) for lung injury at 3 h after CCI compared with Sham surgery and ALI score (n = 5/group, paired t test). (C) Representative immunohistochemical images of CD68 positive cells (black arrow) in lung tissues (scale bars: 100 μm) and related statistical analysis (n = 5/group, paired t test). (D) Representative TEM images of exMt in BALF of TBI mice and TBI patients. exMt (left panel, white arrow) in the BALF of clinical TBI patients (scale bars: 0.2 μm); exMt (right panel, white arrow) in normal form in the BALF of TBI mice model (scale bars: 0.2 μm). (E) Changes of exMt in BALF samples from healthy humans and TBI patients (n = 4 and 12/group, paired t test). (F) Changes of exMt in BALF samples from TBI and Sham mice over time (n = 8–16/group, one-way ANOVA). (G) mtDNA detected in BALF samples from healthy humans and TBI patients (n = 4–12/group, paired t test). (H) mtDNA detected in BALF samples from TBI and Sham mice over time (n = 10–17/group, one-way ANOVA)