Protective Effect of Triptolide against Glomerular Mesangial Cell Proliferation and Glomerular Fibrosis in Rats Involves the TGF-β1/Smad Signaling Pathway

Figure 2

Effect of triptolide on the mRNA expression of Ski and Smad3 of the TGF-β1-induced mesangial cells. Triptolide downregulated Smad3 mRNA expression but upregulated Ski mRNA expression in the TGF-β1-treated mesangial cells. Compared to the TGF-β1-induced group, under the effect of triptolide, the level of expression of Smad3 mRNA decreased but the level of expression of Ski mRNA had significantly increased in a time-dependent manner ( versus the control group, versus the different time points in the same group, and versus the TGF-β1-induced group, ).