Figure 4.

Relative changes in gene expression due to ECM rigidity and TGF-β1 treatment. Human cardiac fibroblasts were cultured on low, moderate, and high PDMS-coated coated coverslips with or without 2 ng/mL TGF-β1 for one, three, and five days. RT-PCR was used to quantify the relative expression of (a) ACTA2, (b) POSTN, (c) FAP, (d) FSP1, and (e) GJA1. All data were normalized to high PDMS control group on Day 1. (n = 4, bars indicate mean ±standard error of the mean, *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 according to one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test for multiple comparisons. For detailed statistical analysis, see Supplementary Tables S5 to S9). (A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)