Fig. 5.

Effects of stretch postconditioning on IL-6-induced EC barrier dysfunction: role of Rho. A and B: HPAEC grown on Flexcell plates were subjected to IL-6/SR (40 ng/ml/10 ng/ml, 1 h) stimulation followed by 18% CS (2 h; A) with or without Y-27632 (2 μM, 30 min) pretreatment (B). Levels of HSP27, Stat3, MLC phosphorylation, and IκBα degradation in the total cell lysates were determined by Western blot analysis. Equal protein loading was confirmed by determination of β-tubulin content in total cell lysates. C: HPAEC were treated with IL-6/SR for 2.5 h followed by addition of vehicle or Y-27632 for 30 min and 18% CS exposure for additional 2 h. Cytoskeletal remodeling in control and stretched EC monolayers was analyzed by immunofluorescence staining for F-actin. Arrows indicate the main direction of CS vector. Shown are representative results of 3–5 independent experiments.