Research Article

Vitamin D Can Ameliorate Chlorhexidine Gluconate-Induced Peritoneal Fibrosis and Functional Deterioration through the Inhibition of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition of Mesothelial Cells

Figure 8

Vitamin D3 inhibits transforming growth factor-β1- (TGF-β1-) induced α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) upregulation of mesothelial cells (MCs) in vitro. MCs were treated with TGF-β1 with or without addition of 1α,25(OH)2D3 (vit. D). Immunofluorescence analysis showed that TGF-β1 promoted upregulation of α-SMA (green) in MCs and vitamin D inhibited this phenomenon. Nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). This inhibition effect is quantified in (b) where the positive staining for α-SMA was calculated as a percentage of MCs present. Data represent mean ± S.D. (; ).
(a)
(b)