Figure 3.

Exogenous CTGF incubation does not appear to affect differentiation of NIH/3T3 fibroblasts into α-SMA⁺ myofibroblasts independently or synergistically with exogenous TGF-β incubation in vitro. NIH/3T3 fibroblasts were incubated with exogenous CTGF only, TGF-β only or CTGF plus TGF-β for 24 hours. Representative fields of view stained for α-SMA, Hoechst and phase-contrast are shown for fibroblasts in (a) media control (1% FBS/DMEM), (b) exogenous CTGF, (c) exogenous TGF-β and (d) exogenous CTGF plus TGF-β. (e) Graphical representation of α-SMA expression as measured by fluorescence intensity relative to Hoechst fluorescence intensity and represented as relative to media controls.

Data are represented as means ± SEM.

n = 3 independent experiments in triplicates.

*p < 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, compared to media control.

α-SMA: alpha-smooth muscle actin; AU: arbitrary units; CTGF: connective tissue growth factor; DMEM: Dulbecco’s modified Eagle media; FBS: fetal bovine serum; TGF-β: transforming growth factor-β.