Figure 5. Amphiregulin treatment decreases pulmonary arterial endothelial cell (PAEC) apoptosis and increases tube formation.

PAECs were treated with increasing concentrations (10–100 ng/ml) of recombinant Amphiregulin or vehicle and placed under hypoxic conditions. (A) PAEC apoptosis was assessed by measuring caspase 3⁺ cells and caspase 3 mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) by flow cytometry. (B) The cells were plated on Matrigel after the treatment, and tube formation was assessed. (C, D) PAECs were transfected with either an empty plasmid (OE CTL) or a plasmid encoding AREG (OE AREG) and placed in either normoxic (C) or hypoxic (D) conditions. The tube formation ability of the transfected PAECs was assessed. n = 5 replicates per condition. Data are shown as mean. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ****P < 0.001.