Fig. 5.

VPO1 regulates cardiac fibroblasts differentiation, migration and collagen I synthesis. (A) Protein levels of VPO1, α-SMA and Collagen I in cultured cardiac fibroblasts transfected with si-NC or si-VPO1 were measured by western blot and quantified by immunoblots. n = 4. (B) Immunofluorescence staining and quantification of VPO1 (red), α-SMA (green) and DAPI (blue) in cultured cardiac fibroblasts transfected with si-NC, si-VPO1 treated with or without TGF-β1 for 24 h. Scale bar: 50 μm n = 4. (C) Representative images of scratch assay of cardiac fibroblasts transfected with si-NC or si-VPO1 and treated with or without TGF-β1 for 24 h and statistical analysis of the migratory distance (μm) after 24 h. n = 4. Scale bar:100 μm. (D–E) Western blot and quantification of the phosphorylation of Smad2/3 in MI mice injected with si-NC and si-VPO1(D), or (E) cultured cardiac fibroblasts transfected with siRNA and incubated with or without TGF-β1. n = 6. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. One-way ANOVA test was used for A-E. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)