Fig. 2: Nicotine exposure promotes the transcription and translation of CHRNA5.

A 10 μmol/L nicotine significantly increases the mRNA expression levels of CHRNA5 in Cal27, Fadu, HN6, and Tu686 cells; B 10 μmol/L nicotine significantly increases the protein expression levels of CHRNA5 in the cells; C Expression of CHRNA5 protein in the cells exposed to 10 μmol/L nicotine observed under laser confocal microscopy. CHRNA5 protein is primarily expressed in the cytoplasm and cell membrane, with nicotine significantly increasing the protein expression levels of CHRNA5 in the cells; D Quantitative analysis of CHRNA5 protein expression in the cells exposed to 10 μmol/L nicotine under laser confocal microscopy. Nicotine significantly increases the protein expression levels of CHRNA5 in the cells. The quantitative representation of average fluorescence intensity in the 3D graph is depicted using a rainbow color spectrum, where red indicates the lowest expression and purple indicates the highest expression. (*p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001).