Figure 3.

TNF-α increased VEGF, Notch1 and Notch2 expression in RAECs. (A) Protein and mRNA expression levels were determined by western blotting and polymerase chain reaction, respectively. (B) VEGF, Notch1 and Notch2 protein expression was significantly increased in RAECs following treatment with 10 ng/ml TNF-α for 48 h. (C) Compared with the control group, VEGF, Notch1 and Notch2 mRNA expression levels were also significantly increased in RAECs in the TNF-α conditioned medium group. GAPDH was used as an endogenous control and the control group was used as a calibrator sample. *P<0.05 vs. control group; n=6/group. The experiment was performed in triplicate. RAECs, rat aortic endothelial cells; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.