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. 2020 Jan 1;4(1):26–39. doi: 10.7150/ntno.38092

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Effect of FGF2-SPION on the differentiation of hPSCs. Western blot (A) and quantitation showing the effect of FGF2 and FGF2-SPIONs at 250 ng/ml and 500 ng/ml on the protein expression of α-SMA (B), collagen-1 (col-1) (C) in hPSCs activated with 5 ng/ml TGF-β for 48 h compared to untreated hPSCs. Western blot and quantification showing the effect of FGF2 and FGF2-SPIONs on the phosphorylation of Smad2/3 (D) and ERK1/2 (E) in hPSCs activated with 5 ng/ml TGF-β for 1 h compared to untreated hPSCs. The protein expression levels for α-SMA and col-1 were normalized to β-actin, while pSmad2/3 and pERK1/2 were normalized to respective total protein levels. (F) Relative % growth of cells after 48 hours treatment with SPION, FGF2, or FGF2 SPION at concentration equal to 250 ng/ml or 500 ng/ml FGF2 and with or without TGF-β indicating no toxic effect exhibited by nanoparticles. (G) Representative immunofluorescence images showing the effect of FGF2 and FGF2-SPION on the protein expression of α-SMA and col-1 in TGF-β-activated hPSCs. Data represents mean + SEM for at least 3 independent experiments. Statistical differences are *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.