FIGURE 5.

Plectin is required for pathway bifurcation in AECs. A–D, day 2 AECs were left untreated (normal) or were treated with adenovirus encoding either human lamin shRNA (Δh-lamin) or plectin shRNA (Δplectin), as indicated. One day later, the cells were serum-starved and then 24 h later were exposed to equibiaxial stretch at 30 cycles per min for 10 min. Cell lysates were immunoblotted against phosphorylated ACC (pACC), total ACC (tACC), phosphorylated ERK (pERK), total ERK (tERK), phosphorylated JNK (pJNK), or total JNK (tJNK). Cell lysates were also immunoblotted using antibodies against DG and plectin to demonstrate that knockdown of plectin had no impact on DG expression. Plectin knockdown resulted in attenuated mechanoactivation of both AMPK and ERK1/2 but not JNK. All blots are representative of at least three independent experiments. p values in B and C denote significance.