Cytokines and Growth Factors Promote Airway Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation

Figure 6

Induction of the MAPK and PI3K signalling in rabbit tracheal ASMCs incubated with bFGF and PDGF. Left: western blot analysis with (a) antiphospho-p42/44, (b) antiphospho-p38, and (c) antiphospho-Akt and anti-β-actin antibodies in total protein cell extracts from rabbit tracheal smooth muscle cells incubated for 4 h with bFGF (10 ng/mL) or PDGF (25 ng/mL). Right: mean fold expression of phospho-p42/44, phospho-p38, or phospho-Akt normalized to β-actin. Data are presented as mean ± SEM, and 𝑁 refers to the number of independent experiments. *𝑃<0.05, **𝑃<0.01, and ***𝑃<0.001 compared to control (one-way ANOVA with statistically significant differences between groups being determined by Bonferroni’s posttest).

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