Figure 4.

ECSW promotes the tube formation of EPCs through the PI3K/AKT and MEK/ERK signaling pathways. The Matrigel assay in vitro was used to investigate the effect of ECSW on angiogenesis in EPCs, three randomly microscopic fields were selected to observe the capillary-like structures and calculate the tube length. ECSW improved the tube forming ability of EPCs while pretreatment with PI3K/AKT inhibitor LY294002 or MEK/ERK inhibitor PD98059 inhibited this effect of ECSW. Scale bar =50 μm. Data are presented as mean ± SD, N=3. *P<0.05 vs group vehicle, #P<0.05 vs group ECSW.