Figure 2. Inhibition of Piezo1 using gadolinium.

HCAECs were pre-incubated with vehicle control or gadolinium (Gd³⁺) at 30 µM for 30 min prior to stimulation with Yoda1 (1.5 µM) for 5 min. Immunoblotting was then performed on cell lysates using antibodies against phosphorylated Akt (S473) and total Akt to assess the level of Akt activation (A) or against phosphorylated ERK1/2 (T202/Y204) and total ERK1/2 to assess the level of ERK1/2 activation (B). Representative blots from 3 independent experiments are shown. Bar graphs represents the quantification as fold change in the ratio of phosphorylated Akt to total Akt (A) or phosphorylated ERK1/2 to total ERK1/2 (B) compared to the control static condition, which is set to 1. The error bars indicate SE. *P<0.05; **P<0.01.