FIGURE 8.

Inhibition of RhoA/ROCK1 pathway attenuated compression stress‐induced human NP cells senescence. (A, B) The level of senescent cells in different groups was assessed by SA‐β‐gal staining. Scale bar: 50 μm. (C, D) Human NP cells untreated or pretreated with 20 μM Y27632 for 2 h prior to compression stress for 36 h were stained with MRTF‐A (green) and DAPI (blue) (n = 20). Scale bar: 10 μm. (E, F) mRNA levels of the ECM remodelling proteinases (MMP3, MMP13 and ADAMTS5) and ECM component (COL1A, COL2A and aggrecan) were measured after the human NP cells were treated withY27632. (G, H) The proportions of cells in each cycle were measured through flow cytometry in different groups. (I, J) CDK4, Cyclin D1, p21 and p53 expression levels in different groups were measured through Western blot analysis and normalized to that of GAPDH. Data were presented as the mean ± SD (n = 3). #No significance, vs compression group; *P < .05, vs compression group; **P < .01, vs compression group; ***P < .001, vs compression group