Fig. 5.

Effect of AT on PDGF-BB-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and MMP9 transcription in VSMC. (A) VSMC were pretreated with or without AT (10 µM and 30 µM) for 1 h and then stimulated with 10 ng/mL of PDGF-BB for 15 min. For statistical analysis, densitometry of the band representing the phosphorylated form of ERK1/2 normalized to the total expression of ERK is considered 100%. (B) The levels of MMP9 mRNA were determined by RT-PCR. VSMC were pretreated with or without AT (10 µM and 30 µM) for 1 h and then stimulated with 10 ng/mL of PDGF-BB for 6 h. cDNA was synthesized using 1 µg of total RNA each treatment group. After PCR and electrophoresis on a 1% agarose gel, the bands were measured using densitometry of the ethidium bromide stained DNA under UV light. The background intensity is considered 100%, and the expression of MMP9 is defined relative to the GAPDH control. Results are presented as the mean ± standard error of three independent experiments. Values with the same superscript letters are not significantly different by Duncan's multiple range test (P < 0.05).