Figure 5. Effects of suppression of cofilin activation or overexpresssion of TJ proteins on the capsaicin-induced cofilin dephosphorylation and decrease in occludin expression.

(A–C) Flag-HA tagged cofilin and LIMK, and EGFP-occludin and claudin-1 stable transfectants were established. Monolayers prepared from the transfectants and non-transfected MDCK cells were exposed to 300 µM capsaicin for the time indicated. After lysis, protein expression was analyzed by immunoblotting. Each experiment was performed with at least two different clones and repeated at least twice. (D) MDCK monolayers were pretreated with vehicle or 50 µM TFP for 30 min, and then exposed to 100 µM capsaicin for the time indicated. The levels of occludin and phospho-cofilin were analyzed by western blotting.