Ginsenoside Rg1 Ameliorates Cigarette Smoke-Induced Airway Fibrosis by Suppressing the TGF-β1/Smad Pathway In Vivo and In Vitro

Figure 6

Ginsenoside Rg1 inhibited TGF-β1/Smad pathway in pulmonary fibroblasts stimulated by cigarette smoke extract (CSE) and mimicked the effect of SB525334 on CSE-induced pulmonary fibroblasts. (a) The concentration of TGF-β1 in serum was determined by ELISA. (b) The concentration of TGF-β1 in the cell supernatant was determined by ELISA. (c) Western blot and quantitative analysis of TGFβRI protein expression. (d) Western blot and quantitative analysis of p-Smad2 and p-Smad3 protein expression. (e) Western blot and quantitative analysis of α-SMA, collagen I, MMP-9, and TIMP-1 protein expression. Data (a, b, c, and e) are shown as the mean ± SD. versus the Sham group; versus the CSE group; and versus the CSE + Rg1 + SB525334 group. Data (d) are expressed as the mean ± SD. versus the corresponding ginsenoside Rg1(−) group.

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