MUC5AC and asthma: Consequently, an Alcian Blue/PAS stain was used to identify mucin in the airway epithelium of lung tissue (Fig 5A) and the mucin area per perimeter airway was quantified as a measure of goblet cell hyperplasia (GCH), a major pathological feature of asthma GCH was significantly increased in ova challenged animals versus saline controls (Fig 5B).