Activation of Akt and its role in MMP-2 expression. A: cardiac fibroblasts were pretreated with UB (10 μg/ml) for 30 min, followed by treatment with ISO (10 μM) for 15 min to measure Akt activation. B: to measure MMP-2 expression, cardiac fibroblasts were pretreated with MK-2206 (MK; 1 μM) for 30 min and then with UB (10 μg/ml) for 30 min, followed by treatment with ISO (10 μM) for 48 h. Cell lysates (20 μg) were analyzed by Western blot using phosphospecific anti-Akt (Ser473) or anti-MMP-2 antibodies. A and B, bottom, exhibit mean data normalized to total Akt or actin. A: phosphorylation (activation) of Akt. *P < 0.05 vs. CTL; #P < 0.05 vs. ISO; n = 5. B: expression of MMP-2. *P < 0.05 vs. CTL; #P < 0.05 vs. UB + ISO; n = 5.