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. 2014 Feb 25;9(2):e89824. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089824

Figure 4. Immunocytochemical analyses of the actin cytoskeleton and focal adhesions in WT and S1KO vSMCs.

Figure 4

(A) Paxillin in focal adhesions was more abundant and localized in large plaques near the periphery in S1KO vSMCs relative to WT. (B) Increased p-Src levels in WT relative to S1KO were observed in all media with representative images of p-Src expressed by WT and S1KO vSMCs. (C) Actin stress fibers were found to be centralized toward the nucleus in S1KO vSMCs relative to WT. (D) Increased p-paxillin levels in S1KO vSMCs was indicated by Western blotting. For all western blots, cell lysates were obtained from confluent vSMCs that were treated with control medium or with heparin or with heparin and TGF-β1 for 48 hours prior to lysis. In all Western blots, the expression levels of the target protein for S1KO vSMCs were normalized to those for WT vSMCs treated with control medium. *Statistically significant difference with WT group under similar culture conditions (p<0.05).