Fig. 3

Aging affected expression of TERT and GDF11-mediated signalings. a qRT-PCR measurements of gene expression levels of GDF11, TERT, and eNOS of CD133⁺/VEGFR2⁺ cells from the young, middle-aged, and old patients, respectively. b Representative western blots of the protein levels of GDF11, TERT, eNOS, Smad2/3, and phosphorylation of eNOS and Smad2/3 in the CD133⁺/VEGFR2⁺ cells from the three age patients. c, d The difference of telomerase activity (c) and eNOS activity (d) between CD133⁺/VEGFR2⁺ cells. e, f Phosphorylation levels of eNOS (e) and Smad2/3 (f) in these cells. All data represent means ± s.e.m. p < 0.05: *vs. young group, ^†vs. middle-aged group (n = 10 in each group). The expression levels of TERT and GDF11-relative signaling markedly declined in the CD133⁺/VEGFR2⁺ cells with age