Figure 1. Rat bladder outlet obstruction leads to SMAD and extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation and to increased transcript levels of established transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) targets.

Phosphorylation of SMAD proteins (A) SMAD2/3 and (B) SMAD1/5/8 was measured by western blotting using phosphorylation-sensitive antibodies at various times following outlet obstruction. Gapdh was used as loading and normalization control. Protein expression was normalized first to Gapdh and then to the mean for the sham-operated controls. (C) Transcript levels for three established TGF-β targets are shown at 6 weeks of obstruction. The fold changes were large so the log₂ expression is shown on the y-axis. Data is from the mRNA microarray described in further detail in the text. (D) Time-course of ERK1/2 activation. All samples: n=6-8. * p < 0.05 versus sham. *** p < 0.001 versus sham.