Tiaoshen Tongluo Attenuates Fibrosis by Modulating the TGF-β1/Smad Pathway in Endometrial Stromal Cells and a Rat Model of Intrauterine Adhesion

Figure 4

Relative Smad activity following treatment with the Tiaoshen Tongluo recipe (TTR). After treating ESCs with 50 ng/ml TGF-β1 for 48 h, normal rat serum and drug-containing serum of different volumes were added. ESCs treated with TTR-containing serum at final concentrations of 5%, 10%, or 20% were cultured for a further 72 hours. The blank control group was treated with 15% normal rat serum. (a) Representative images showing the morphology of ESCs after different treatments. Scale bar = 100 μm. The relative mRNA expression of Smad2 (b), Smad3 (c), Smad4 (d), and Smad7 (e) detected by real-time PCR. (f) The protein expression of Smad2, phosphorylated-Smad2, Smad3, phosphorylated-Smad3, Smad4, and Smad7 assessed by Western blotting. (g) The protein expression of Smad2, phosphorylated-Smad2, Smad3, phosphorylated-Smad3, Smad4, and Smad7 was quantified relative to that of β-actin.  < 0.05,  < 0.01 compared to control.

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