Fig. 7.

Synthetic MGF-induced expression of smooth muscle-specific genes in human intestinal smooth muscle cells is MEF2C dependent. Synthetic MGF elicited time-dependent increase in expression of ACTA2 (A), ACTG2 (B), DES (C), and SMTH (D) over a 4-day period. Increased gene expression was inhibited by transfection of MEF2C siRNA but not affected by scrambled sense siRNA. Cultured smooth muscle cells incubated with synthetic MGF (100 nM) for 4 days following transfection of MEF2C pooled siRNA or scrambled sense siRNA. Gene expression was measured from the relative transcript levels by using qRT-PCR with GAPDH as control. Results are means ± SE of 3 separate experiments. *P < 0.05 vs. control. **P < 0.05 vs. scrambled sense siRNA transfection.