Figure 4 | Laboratory Investigation

Figure 4

From: Salvianolic acid B lowers portal pressure in cirrhotic rats and attenuates contraction of rat hepatic stellate cells by inhibiting RhoA signaling pathway

Figure 4

Sal B reduces ET-1-induced intracellular Ca2+ increase and inhibits RhoA activation. (a) Changes of Ca2+ were observed by Fluo-4 fluorescence. Cells loaded with Fluo4-AM were stimulated with ET-1(10−8M) in 1.8 mM Ca2+condition, with or without Sal B or BAPTA pretreatment for 30 min. Cells were visualized, and images were captured every 10 s. (b) BAPTA barely affected ET-1-induced HSCs contraction. (c) The activation course of RhoA upon ET-1 stimulation. (d) Cells were pretreated with Y-27632 (10−5M) or Sal B (10−5M) for 30 min, or with C3 exoenzyme (10 μg/ml) for 24 h before ET-1 incubation for 10 min. Activated (GTP-bound) RhoA was selectively pulled down by Rho-binding domain of Rhotekin coupled to agarose beads. RhoA activity is represented as the relative ratio of the density of GTP-RhoA against that of total RhoA. Data are representative of three independent experiments. #P<0.01 versus control, *P<0.01 versus ET-1.

Back to article page