FIGURE 1.

Smad2/3 signaling is abnormally high in Fbn1 mutant VSMC cultures. A, representative phospho-Smad2 immunoblots of protein extracts from VSMC cultures of the indicated genotypes (n = 3) with the bar graphs below summarizing the results of control (black) and experimental samples (white) normalized against β-tubulin levels. B, transcriptional activity of the p3TP-Lux reporter plasmid transiently transfected into VSCM of the indicated genotype (n = 3) without or together the DN-Smad3 expression plasmid. Black and white bar graphs summarize the results of three independent tests performed in duplicate for each of the experimental and control samples, respectively. In both panels, wild-type values are arbitrarily expressed as 1 unit, and asterisks indicate values statistically different from controls (Student's t test, p ≤ 0.05).