Role of thrombin in vascular inflammation in SCD. (A-E) aPTT (A) and plasma levels of TAT (B), sVCAM-1 (C), IL-6 (D), and MPO (E) in the lungs of BERK^AA (n = 9-10) and BERK^SS (n = 10-12) mice that received dabigatran (Dab) or control placebo (Con) for 10 days. Formalin-fixed lungs were stained for neutrophils, and neutrophils were counted in 10 high-power fields (HPF; original magnification ×400) for each mouse. (F) Average number of neutrophils in 10 HPFs (×400) of lungs. (G) Representative lung sections demonstrating neutrophil infiltration in four different groups of mice. Neutrophils stain as brown. Asterisks directly above the bars indicate statistically significant difference between BERK^SS compared with BERK^AA mice within the same treatment group (Dab or Con) (*P < .05, **P < .01, and ***P < .001).