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cPLA2α modulates cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion in HepG2 cells. (A) The knockdown and overexpression efficiency of cPLA2α in HepG2 cells was examined by western blot. The abbreviation of cPLA2α-knockdown and cPLA2α-overexpressing HepG2 cells were KD and OE, respectively. The abbreviation of negative control of cPLA2α-knockdown and cPLA2α-overexpressing HepG2 cells were KD/SCR and OE/SCR, respectively. (B) KD/SCR, KD, OE/SCR and OE cells were seeded on twelve-well plates precoated with fibronectin. The number of adherent cells was counted in five random fields on every coverslip under microscopy (200 ×) at 5, 15, 30 min (^***P < 0.001). (C) The strength of cell attachment to the substratum was measured by the percentage of detached cells at different time points with trypsin treatment. (D) The hanging-drop assay was performed on KD/SCR and KD cells with or without trituration. Cell aggregates of different sizes (represented by the number of cells per aggregate) were counted before and after trituration at the indicated incubation time points, and their proportions in each sample were shown in the bar graphs. Scale bar: 200 μm. (E) The hanging-drop assay was performed on OE/SCR and OE cells with or without trituration. Cell aggregates of different sizes (represented by the number of cells per aggregate) were counted before and after trituration at the indicated incubation time points, and their proportions in each sample were shown in the bar graphs. Scale bar, 200 μm. Data are represented as the mean ± SD. All experiments were repeated at least three times.