Regulation of formation and stability of adherens junctions by ROS in HTM and HUVEC cells. Confluent cultures of HTM or HUVEC cells treated with NAC (1 mM for 2 h) or DPI (2 µM for 2 h) to inhibit ROS generation reveal increased intercellular gaps and decreased staining of β-catenin in both HTM and HUVEC cells and VE-cadherin in HUVEC cells (B, C, H, I, N, O) compared to the control (A, G, M) and PDGF (10 ng/ml for 2 h) treated cells (D, J, P). Treatment with PDGF (10 ng/ml for 2 h) to rescue the NAC/ DPI-induced suppression of ROS generation results in partial rescue in terms of stabilization of cell-cell junctions and reduction of intercellular gaps, but not to the level supported by PDGF alone (E, F, K, L, Q, R). Scale bar: 10 µm.