Figure 4.

Silencing of zinc-sensing receptor ZnR/GPR39 blunts the ZnSO₄-induced TNFAIP3 expression and the protective effects of ZnSO₄ on phosphate-induced osteoinductive signaling in HAoSMCs. Scatterdot plots and arithmetic means±SEM (n=6; arbitrary units, a.u.) of TNFAIP3 (A), MSX2 (B), CBFA1 (C), and ALPL (D) relative mRNA expression in HAoSMCs after silencing for 48 hours with negative control siRNA (Neg.si) or GPR39 siRNA (GPR39si) and treatment for 24 hours with control or with β-glycerophosphate (Pi) without or with additional treatment with 15 µM ZnSO₄. **P<0.01; ***P<0.001 statistically significant versus Neg.si silenced HAoSMCs; ^††P<0.01; ^†††P<0.001 statistically significant versus Neg.si silenced and Pi treated HAoSMCs; ^§§P<0.01; ^§§§P<0.001 statistically significant between Neg.si silenced and GPR39si silenced Pi+ZnSO₄ treated HAoSMCs. CTR, control.