Figure 3.

Laminin is sufficient to promote ASM cell survival via integrin α7β1. Human ASM cells were treated in the absence or presence of integrin α7 siRNA and then serum-deprived for 6 d before protein abundance for sm-α-actin (A) and integrin α7 (B), caspase 3 activity (C), and protein abundance for PARP (D) were determined. Experiments were terminated following 6-d serum deprivation based on preliminary experiments, which showed effective silencing of integrin α7 mRNA and protein expression for ≥6 d. GFP served as negative control; TA served as vehicle control. Results are representative of 3 independent experiments. Data are expressed as fold increment over basal (d 0) relative to β-actin protein abundance. *P < 0.05 vs. d 0; ^†P < 0.05 vs. d 6 response without integrin α7 siRNA.