Fig. 1.

Microtubule-disturbing drugs, including DTX, are effective in killing proliferating PASMCs. Proliferating/synthetic phenotype (A) and differentiated/contractile phenotype of human PASMCs (B) were treated with various antitumor drugs at 1 µM for 24 hours. Cell number was determined by counting on a hemocytometer. Equal amounts of water (for daunorubicin) and 0.1% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO; for other drugs) were used as vehicle controls. Symbols a and b denote significantly different from DMSO and water, respectively (n = 6–9) at P < 0.05. (C) Representative photographs of control and DTX-treated PASMCs. (D–F) Proliferating/synthetic human PASMCs were treated with DTX, paclitaxel, or vincristine for 24 hours. The number of viable cells was monitored by using Cell Counting Kit-8.