Puerarin Protects against Cardiac Fibrosis Associated with the Inhibition of TGF-β1/Smad2-Mediated Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition

Figure 7

GW9662 counteracted puerarin’s suppression effect on EndMT. (a) HUVECs were preincubated with puerarin (50 μM) or pioglitazone (20 μM) in the presence or absence of GW9662 (10 μM) for 30 min and then treated with TGF-β1 (10 ng/ml) for 48 h. The protein levels of CD31, vimentin, p-Smad2, Smad2, Smad4, and PPAR-γ in cell lysates of indicated groups were detected by WB, normalized to GAPDH . versus control group; versus TGF-β1 group; ^☆ versus TGF-β1 + Pue group. (b) HUVECs were treated in the same way as mentioned above. mRNA levels of CD31, vimentin, Fn, CTGF, α-SMA, and collagen III in indicated groups were tested by RT-PCR, normalized to GAPDH . versus control group; versus TGF-β1 group; ^☆ versus TGF-β1 + Pue group.

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