Lithium Attenuates TGF--Induced Fibroblasts to Myofibroblasts Transition in Bronchial Fibroblasts Derived from Asthmatic Patients
Figure 4
The effect of inhibition of GSK-3β on TGF-β 1-stimulated α-SMA levels in nonasthmatic and asthmatic HBFs. HBFs from NA and AS groups were cultured for 7 days in DMEM supplemented with 0.1% BSA (control), or with the same medium with addition of TGF- (5 ng/mL), LiCl (10 mM), or TGF-/LiCl (a) or with the same control medium supplemented with TGF- (5 ng/mL), TWS119 (10 μM) or TGF-/TWS119 (b). Protein extracts (10 μg of protein per lane) were subjected to SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, and α-SMA protein/α-tubulin (a) or α-SMA protein/GAPDH (b) was detected by immunoblotting. Responses were quantified by densitometry and normalized to the expression of α-tubulin or GAPDH, respectively. Data represents relative optical density mean of at least 3 experiments (ROD ± SE). Representative immunoblots are shown under the graphs.
