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. 2011 Nov 16;6(11):e27743. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027743

Figure 4. Identification of gene expression changes with inhibition of Notch signaling in rat AVICs.

Figure 4

(A) Schematic showing the establishment of AVIC cultures from rat aortic valves. (B) Rat AVICs treated with DAPT demonstrate downregulation of Notch1 intracellular domain (NICD) when compared to untreated cells (DMSO only). Protein amounts were normalized to anti-α-tubulin. (C) RNA from control and DAPT-treated AVICs cultured for 10 days was extracted and analyzed for differential gene expression using Affymetrix Rat 230 2.0 GeneChip microarrays. Table showing fold downregulation of cartilage-specific genes with DAPT treatment of rat AVICs. In blue, direct transcriptional targets of Sox9; (*) genes with multiple hits. Decreased expression of cartilage-specific genes by qRT-PCR in AVICs with DAPT treatment (D) or when cultured in osteogenic media (OM) versus standard media (SM) (E). Expression of osteopontin (Opn) mRNA was upregulated in OM. *, p value<0.05. Experiments were performed in triplicate, and means and standard deviations are shown.