Combination of Dichloroacetate and Atorvastatin Regulates Excessive Proliferation and Oxidative Stress in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Development via p38 Signaling

Figure 5

Dichloroacetate and atorvastatin regulated the balance of proliferation and apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum stress accompanied by p38 activation. Representative immunoblots and relative densitometric analysis of proliferation, apoptosis marker, and endoplasmic reticulum stress-associated marker. (a) PASMCs exposed to PDGF, DCA, or ATO as indicated above compared with the controls (). (b–e, g–i) Immunoblot quantifications of Bax, Bcl2, Bax/Bcl2, PCNA, GRP78, CHOP, and phospho-p38/total p38 of each group (). (f, j) Immunoblot phospho-p38 and total p38 quantification in the PASMCs () and rat model (). β-Actin was used as a loading control. , , and indicate , , and , respectively, compared with the control group; ^#, ^##, and ^### denote , , and , respectively, comparing the PDGF group. ^&, ^&&, and ^&&& represent , , and , the PDGF+ATO group compared with the PDGF+DCA+ATO group.