Figure 5.

Testosterone increases nuclear β-catenin translocation. (A) HaCaT cells were treated for 1 hour with testosterone (100 nM) with or without flutamide (1 μM), and analyzed for β-catenin expression. Densitometric analysis shows that cells incubated with testosterone had higher level of nuclear β-catenin. (B) HaCaT cell infected with type 5 adenovirus encoding β-catenin with eGPF were scratch-wounded and treated with medium, testosterone (100 nM), or lithium chloride LiCl (2 mM). Extent of β-catenin nuclear translocation was monitored after 1 hour; 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) counterstain was used to localize the nuclei. Three independent experiments were performed, and representative photographs are shown. (C) β-catenin small interfering RNA siRNA decreases the expression levels of β-catenin. HaCaT cells were transiently transfected with specific β-catenin siRNA (βcat-siRNA) and representative densitometric data of one of multiple independent experiments are shown. (D) βcat-siRNA attenuates testosterone’s effect on gap closure. HaCaT cells, transfected with either nonspecific oligonucleotide (c-siRNA) or specific βcat-siRNA were incubated with or without testosterone (100 nM).