Figure 6.

Transgenic overexpression of TGFβ3 decreases fibroblast to myofibroblast differentiation at the site of cutaneous wounding in vivo. (a,b) Wound sections were stained immunohistochemically for fibroblast (a: vimentin) and myofibroblast (b: SMA) markers after treatment with [a and b(i)] PBS, [a and b(ii)] Lnt-TGFβ3, or [a and b(iii)] Lnt-mutTGFβ3. Representative images from at least three sections from each animal (n = 6). (c) Real-time reverse transcription-PCR showed that there was a small but nonsignificant increase in vimentin expression but a significant decrease within both TGFβ3 application groups and the PBS control (n = 4) as well as a significant decrease between the Lnt-mutTGFβ3 and Lnt-TGFβ3 treatment groups. PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; SMA, smooth muscle actin; TGF, transforming growth factor.