Figure 2.

Chronic stress-driven GR activation and cell phenotypes in primary dermal fibroblasts from donors of different ancestry and sex

(A) Cumulative change in population doubling level (PDL) of dermal fibroblasts (White female, White male, Black female, Black male) treated with vehicle (DMSO) or cortisol over 23 days. Points represent one biological replicate.

(B) Scratch assays of White female and Black male dermal fibroblasts pre-treated with vehicle, cortisol, relacorilant, or cortisol + relacorilant for 2 weeks. Cells were imaged for up to 24 h (White female: F₃,₈ = 31.6, p < 0.0001, FC cortisol-vehicle = 2.1, p_adj < 0.0001 for cortisol vs. vehicle comparison; Black male: F₃,₈ = 13.3, p < 0.001, FC cortisol-vehicle = 1.7, P_adj < 0.01 for cortisol vs. vehicle comparison). Scale bar indicates 1000 μm. Post-hoc adjusted p values (P_adj) are Tukey-adjusted for multiple pairwise comparisons. Bars in the bar graph represent the average of 3 biological replicates. Error bars represent one SD above and below the mean. Representative White female dermal fibroblasts treated with vehicle, cortisol, and cortisol + relacorilant are shown. ∗p < 0.05; ∗∗p < 0.01; ∗∗∗p < 0.001; ∗∗∗∗p < 0.0001.