Presence of Stromal Cells Enhances Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) Induction in Lung Bronchial Epithelium after Protracted Exposure to Oxidative Stress of Gamma Radiation

Figure 1

Immunofluorescence staining of EMT marker expression in lung epithelial cell lines: (a) in BEAS-2B with vimentin staining and (b) in HBEC-3KT with E-cadherin staining. The cells were exposed to 0.1 or 1 Gy protracted radiation at a dose rate of 1.4 or 14 mGy/h, upper panels. Lower panels: positive TGF-β control and EMT enhancement after combined treatment of the cells with TGF-β and 0.1 or 1 Gy of protracted radiation. Vimentin and E-cadherin are stained in green. The nuclei are counterstained with propidium iodide (red). White arrows indicate cells with changes consistent with EMT. Cytoplasmic protrusions are marked with blue arrows. The enlarged same size areas on the right side of (a) for vimentin and (b) for E-cadherin. Numbers 1-4 are visualising the change in cell shape and size: (1) control, (2) TGF-β, (3) TGF-β+0.1 Gy, and (4) 1 Gy. Scale bars: 20 μm. (c) ImageJ measurements of the cell size in the BEAS-2B and HBEC-3KT cells from the image series (a, b). and ; one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s posttest ().

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