Research Article

Simvastatin Treatment Upregulates HO-1 in Patients with Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm but Independently of Nrf2

Figure 5

Simvastatin does not influence HMOX1 via Nrf2/ARE system in HAoSMC. (a) Nrf2 localization after 1 h stimulation with simvastatin (1 and 10 μM) or sulforaphane (10 μM, positive control). Confocal microscopy: Nrf2 (red), nuclei (blue), and tubulin (green) (Mag. 400x). (b) Changes in gene expression of NQO1 and HMOX1 in HAoSMC with transcriptionally inactive Nrf2 (Ad-Nrf2-DN) stimulated for 6 h with simvastatin (1 and 10 μM). (c) Efficiency of Nrf2 silencing in HAoSMC transfection with siNFE2L2 (Nrf2) and changes in expression of NQO1 and HMOX1 after 6 h stimulation with simvastatin (1 and 10 μM). Data are presented as mean ± SE; , , and versus siNFE2L2/AdGFP; versus siNFE2L2/AdGFP control; versus simva 1 μM siNFE2L2 (N = 3).
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