Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 10 pp 8837—8857

Figure 3. TGF-β2 increases oxidative stress and induces fibrosis in HConFs. (A) Mitochondrial superoxide variation, and (B) intracellular ROS variation at indicated TGF-β2 treatment. (C) Intracellular antioxidant protein SOD1/2, CAT, γ-GCS, and (D) fibrotic protein α-SMA, fibronectin, vimentin, and collagen-1 expression variation at different TGF-β2 concentration precondition for 24h. (E) Representative images showing immunofluorescence staining for α-SMA generated after preconditioning with different TGF-β2 concentrations for 24h (Nuclei=blue, α-SMA=green). (F) Levels of antioxidant proteins SOD1/2 and γ-GCS levels and (G) fibrotic proteins α-SMA, fibronectin, and collagen-1. (H) Levels of oxidative stress-related genes SOD1/2, γ-GCS and NOX4 and (I) fibrosis-related genes α-SMA, fibronectin, and collagen-1, FSP-1, MMP-2, MMP-9. n=3. All data indicate the mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.