Fig. 5.

TNF-α-induced alteration of endothelial morphology is prevented by pUR4. After being preincubated with 1000 nM scrambled peptide or 1000 nM pUR4 for 16 h, bEND.3 cells were treated with TNF-α for 24 h. PBS-treated control and TNF-α-treated bEND.3 cells were immunostained with anti-ZO-1 antibody to depict the cell boundaries. Three independent experiments were performed, and each experiment was repeated with similar results. Representative photomicrographs at low (a)–(c) and high (d)–(f) magnification show the endothelial cell shapes. Paracellular gaps are marked by arrows. Cell width:length ratio (width/length ratio) (g) and quantitative analysis of the cell area delineated by ZO-1 (h) derived from a single representative experiment are shown (n = 7–9). Data are expressed as means ± standard deviations. **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001, one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison test