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. 2015 Feb 5;11(6):4121–4128. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2015.3307

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Formoterol regulates the expression of M3R by mediating signaling via the β2AR-cAMP signaling pathway. (A) Rat airway smooth muscle cells were randomly divided into seven groups. The cells were treated with formoterol (10−5 mmol/l) for 1 h or 24 h. The cells stimulated with cAMP were treated with 10−5 mmol/l forskolin for 24 h. Inhibition of the β2AR-cAMP-protein kinase A was performed by pretreating the cells with 10−5 mmol/l ICI118,551, 10−4 mmol/l SQ22,536 or 10−5 mmol/l H89 for 24 h. These treatment groups and the control group were subsequently treated with 10−5 mmol/l formoterol for 2 h. The protein expression of M3R in the rat airway smooth muscle cells was determined by western blot analysis following acetylcholine stimulation for 15 min. (B) Expression of M3R was normalized to the β-actin control. The data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation from three independent experiments (*P<0.01, compared with the 1 h incubation group; Δ P<0.05, compared with the 24 h formoterol treatment group). F1h, 1 h formoterol treatment; F24h, 24 h formoterol treatment; FK, forskolin; ICI+F, formoterol+ICI118,551; SQ+F, formoterol+SQ22,536; H89+F, formoterol+H89; Con, control; M3R, muscarinic M3 receptor.