Fig. 1.

Effects of homocysteine on expression of MMP-2 in VSMC culture medium

Homocysteine (50–5 000 μmol/L) significantly increased the expression of MMP-2, as determined by Western blotting, in a dose-dependent manner. Columns indicate data of protein expression of MMP-2 as percentages of the 72 h intervention group (5 000 μmol/L homocysteine), and represent the mean±SE of three separate experiments performed in duplicate. The group treated with 0 μmol/L homocysteine was regarded as the control. ^& P<0.05, ^* P<0.01, ^# P<0.001, vs. control group