Fig. 6

TGF-β1 stimulates pro-fibrotic phenotype of 10T1/2 cells through activin receptor-like kinase-5. a Schema illustrating the culture of 10T1/2 cells in medium with or without TGF-β1 (5 ng/mL) and activin receptor-like kinase-5 (ALK5) inhibitor (ALK5i) SB431542 (5 µg/mL). b Representative western blot analysis for p-SMAD2/3, SMAD2/3 and GAPDH at time points as indicated after treatments. c The relative mRNA expression normalized by Hprt at 24 h after treatments. The mRNA expression of each gene in cells are compared to that of the kidney from day 0 (normal kidney) and day 4 after unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO kidney) surgery. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. The mean expression of normal kidney is set at 1. n = 4 per group. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s test between cells and Student’s t test between normal and UUO kidneys