Figure 6-6929.

Autocrine α_vβ₈-mediated activation of TGF-β activation contributes to the regulation of the myofibroblast phenotype. A: Western blot for α-SMA of fetal tracheal fibroblast cell lysates that had been treated for 24 hours with no treatment (lane 1), anti-pan TGF-β (lane 2), anti-β₈ (lane 3), or recombinant active TGF-β1 (lane 4). A lysate of fetal tracheal epithelial cells is added as a negative control (lane 5). Shown at the left is a representative experiment and at the right is densitometry performed from three independent experiments. Filled bar is no treatment, open bar is anti-TGF-β, horizontal crosshatched bar is anti-β₈, and vertical hatched bar is recombinant active TGF-β. *P < 0.05. B: Collagen gel contraction assay of fetal tracheal fibroblasts treated with no treatment (1), anti-TGF-β (2), anti-β₈ (3), or recombinant active TGF-β (4). On the left photomicrographs depict the well containing the collagen gels at 0 (top) and 72 hours (bottom). On the right is the average maximum gel diameter taken from three independent experiments shown as percent increase in size compared to the no treatment control. Filled bar is no treatment, open bar is anti-TGF-β, horizontal crosshatched bar is anti-β₈, and vertical hatched bar is recombinant active TGF-β. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.001. Shown is SE.