Fig. 1. Silica induced EMT and the downregulation of BMP-7 associated with the activation of the p38 MAPK pathway. Western blots (n = 5) demonstrated that E-cadherin (A and B) decreased and α-SMA (A and C) increased in silica groups of 15 and 30 days, and it was also found that the levels of BMP-7 were downregulated and the levels of P-p38 MAPK were upregulated in lungs exposed with silica. GAPDH or p38 MAPK was used as a loading control. *P < 0.05 vs. control group.
