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. 2014 May;184(5):1458–1467. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2014.01.020

Figure 4.

Figure 4

SMAD3 and SMAD4 are limiting factors for acetaldehyde-mediated COL1A2 up-regulation in HSCs. Effect of acetaldehyde on luciferase activity of HSCs transiently cotransfected with 7 μg −378COL1A2LUC reporter vector and either a control empty cytomegalovirus vector or 2.5 μg expression vectors for SMAD3 or SMAD4. At 12 hours after transfection, cells were treated with 200 μmol/L acetaldehyde for 36 hours. Cells were harvested and used to measure luciferase activity. Up-regulation of either SMAD3 or SMAD4 alone does not significantly enhance reporter activity induced by acetaldehyde; however, in HHSCs cotransfected with both the reporter vector and the two vectors expressing SMAD3 and SMAD4, reporter activity increased twofold, compared with that induced by acetaldehyde alone or cells expressing either SMAD3 or SMAD4. Data are expressed as means ± SEM. ∗P < 0.05.