Figure 5.

Liraglutide attenuates high glucose- and IL-1β-induced TGF-β signaling in HUVECs. HUVECs were cultured in the conditions indicated for 24 h. Cells were harvested for western blot analyses of the protein levels of (a) TGF-β and Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as an internal control, (b) p-Smad2 and total Smad2/3 as an internal control, and (c) p-AMPK and total AMPK as an internal control. Quantification of the relative fold increase is shown as the mean ± SD from three independent experiments. * P < 0.05 compared to saline control. # P < 0.05 compared to HG+IL-1β group. The statistical significance was assessed by Kruskal–Wallis test.