Figure 3.

Thrombin-mediated effects on CTGF and VEGF expression. (A) Cell lysates were analyzed for thrombin-mediated CTGF expression. Thrombin induced expression of CTGF, that was already maximal at 0.5 U/mL. (B) Densitometric analysis demonstrated that thrombin-induced CTGF expression could be reduced by dabigatran (10 μM), the protease activated receptor-1 (PAR1) receptor antagonist (SCH79797; 250 μM), and the non-specific protease inhibitor (α1-antitrypsin; 1 mg/mL), and could be triggered using PAR1-AP (30 μM), a PAR1 agonist. (C) VEGF secretion (assessed by ELISA) into the apical supernatant could be induced by thrombin treatment and reduced by dabigatran and the selective non-peptide PAR1 receptor antagonist SCH79797. VEGF secretion into the apical supernatant could be triggered using the PAR1-AP. Data are plotted as mean ± SEM; n = 3 independent experiments.