Figure 3.

Apigenin-mediated collagen synthesis increase via smad2/3 signaling pathway. A,B) Western blot analysis and quantification of phosphorylated and total smad2, smad3 and total smad4 in HDFs with or without apigenin stimulation for 12 h or 3 days. C) Western Blot analysis of JNK, ERK and p38 in HDFs with or without apigenin stimulation for 12 h. D) Immunofluorescence experiments: smad3 was labeled as green; nucleus (blue) was stained with DAPI; scale bar: 50 μm. E) Western blot showed the expression of Col1a2 and Col3a1 in HDFs when cells were treated with DMSO, apigenin or apigenin with specific siRNA of smad2/3. Data are presented as mean ± SD, n≥3; NS, not significant; *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001.