Research Article

The Role of Unfolded Protein Response in Human Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: Perk and IRE1-α as Two Potential Therapeutic Targets

Figure 2

UPR activation leads to the decreased biological activity of NPCs. The expression of UPR genes in NPCs treated by Tm was analyzed by real-time PCR (a) and western blot (b). (c) Cell proliferation was evaluated by the CCK-8 assay at days 1 to 7 after TM treatment. (d) The expression of Agg, Col2, and SOX9 following the exposure of NPCs to Tm was confirmed by western blot. β-Actin was used as an internal control. The representative results were from three independent experiments. The error bars represent the SD from the mean values. , .
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)