Figure 7.

Primary rat AECs were infected with adenovirus vectors expressing shRNA against vimentin (Ad-Vimentin shRNA, 10 MOI) or an empty vector (Ad-Null shRNA, 10 MOI). A) At 24 h postinfection, cells were wounded by crisscross scratch assays, washed 3 times with PBS, and then exposed to control conditions (DMEM plus 5% charcoal-stripped FBS) or to TGF-β1 (2 ng/ml) for 24 h. Equal amounts of protein from cell lysates were separated by 10% SDS-PAGE, transferred to nitrocellulose, and immunoblotted with anti-vimentin and anti-E-actin antibodies. Representative autoradiogram is shown; n = 2. B) At 24 h postinfection, cells were wounded with a single scratch, washed with PBS, and exposed to control conditions (DMEM plus 5% charcoal-stripped FBS) or to TGF-β1 (2 ng/ml). Rate of wound closure was determined by using customized MetaMorph software; results were normalized to initial wound area. Line graph represents means ± sd in triplicate. *P < 0.05.