Figure 5.

Burn serum caused a loss of cell surface-associated VE-cadherin and β-catenin expression (A_1-4). GM-CSF prevented the loss of VE-cadherin and β-catenin membrane expression (A_5-8); these effects were unaltered by scrambled siRNA (A_9-12) and reversed by RhoA overexpression (A_13-16). GM-CSF enhanced VE-cadherin and β-catenin binding in the burn serum conditions. RhoA overexpression reduced this binding, even in the presence of GM-CSF (B). GM-CSF increased the membrane expression of VE-cadherin after exposure to burn serum, which was inhibited by RhoA overexpression (C, D). RhoA overexpression attenuated GM-CSF function by reducing FITC-albumin diffusion and increasing TEER values upon burn serum treatment (E, F) (*p < 0.05).