Fig. 4.

The effect of hypoxia on SMC marker gene promoter activity in the absence and presence of myocardin overexpression. FPVSMC were cotransfected with the indicated SMC gene promoter-firefly luciferase constructs, FLAG-tagged myocardin plasmid DNA or control vector, together with pRL-SV40 as a Renilla luciferase reporter transfection control. Luciferase activities were measured after 24 h of hypoxia. Promoter activity is expressed as a ratio of firefly/Renilla luciferase activity. Data are presented as mean values ± SE of 5 separate experiments, each of which comprised 4 replicates. *Significantly different from respective normoxia controls (P < 0.05).