Kidney-Replenishing Herb Induces SOCS-3 Expression via ERK/MAPK Pathway and Improves Growth of the First-Trimester Human Trophoblast Cells

Figure 2

Modulation of Kidney-replenishing herb on growth of the primary cultured human first-trimester trophoblast cells. To verify rapid activation of ERK1/2, cells were starved for 12 h, subjected to 10% or 20% of Kidney-replenishing herb treatments for 4 h. The phosphorylation of ERK1/2 was observed in response to Kidney-replenishing herb treatment ((a), (b)). The phosphorylation of ERK1/2 induced by 20% of control serum was also detected (c). The samples were controlled by immunoblot against ERK (d) and GAPDH (e). The primary cultured trophoblasts were starved with 1% FBS for 12 h and then treated with vehicle, 10% Kidney-replenishing herb, 20% Kidney-replenishing herb, 10% control serum, 20% control serum, and Kidney-replenishing herb combined with U0126 (30 mmol/l) or U0126 (30 mmol/l) alone, respectively, for 48 h. The percent of PCNA expression (f) or Annexin-V-FITC/PI staining (g) was observed by flow cytometry. , when compared with 20% control serum.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)