Fig. 5.

TGF-β induces the expression of collagen type I, IV, V, fibronectin, α-SMA, and nestin proteins in astrocytes. Rat astrocytes were exposed to TGF-β (10 ng/ml) for 24 h. Expression of collagen I (a), collagen IV (b), collagen V (c), fibronectin (d), α-SMA (e), and nestin (f) was detected by Western blotting and was normalized to β-actin, except in (e), where it was normalized to GAPDH. The results are presented as fold increase over unstimulated (CTR), which was considered to be 1. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3). A representative blot for each component is shown. *p < 0.05