Fig. 5: HSP47 ablations decrease FAK signal and PPARγ protein.

Confocal microscopy image (a) of extracellular collagen protein (anti-Collagen VI) in the epididymal adipose tissue of control and AdHSP47KO (n = 4 each); the arithmetic mean fluorescence intensity for collagen (b; p = 0.0073). Western blot image (c) of HSP47, focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signal, and PPARγ proteins in the epididymal adipose tissue of control and AdHSP47KO (n = 6); the densitometry of HSP47 (d; p = 2.96e–12), phosphorylated FAK (e; Phospho-FAK; pFAK; p = 0.000466), and PPARγ (f; p = 2.19e–6) proteins. Western blot image (g) of FAK signal and PPARγ proteins in the epididymal adipose tissue of control and HSP47i (n = 4 each); the densitometry of pFAK (h; p = 0.011) and PPARγ (I; p = 0.00074) proteins. Western blot image (j) of HSP47, FAK signal and PPARγ proteins in 3T3-L1 adipocytes after control or Hsp47 siRNA (n = 3 each); the densitometry of HSP47 (k; p = 6.59e–6), pFAK (l; p = 0.0239), and PPARγ (m; p = 0.0121) proteins. Western blot image (n) of Collagen multimer forms (monomer, dimer, and trimer; non-reduced; anti-Collagen VI) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes after control or HSP47 siRNA (n = 3 each); the densitometry (o) of monomer (p = 0.0139), dimer (p = 0.00043), and trimer (p = 0.003) forms of collagen protein. Western blot image (p) of Integrin-bound Collagen (IP; anti-Integrin β1, IB; anti-Collagen VI), FAK signal (Input), and PPARγ (Input) proteins in 3T3-L1 adipocytes after HSP47i for 3 h (n = 3 each); the densitometry of Collagen (q; anti-Collagen VI; p = 0.00783), pFAK (r; p = 0.0058) and PPARγ (s; p = 1.59e–5) proteins. Western blot image (t) of FAK signal and PPARγ proteins in 3T3-L1 adipocytes after RGD peptide treatment (0, 1, 4 mM) for 16 h (n = 3 each); the densitometry of pFAK (u; p = 1.74e−5) and PPARγ (v; p = 0.0064) proteins (control vs RGD 4 mM). Western blot image (w) of Integrin β1, FAK signal, and PPARγ proteins in 3T3-L1 adipocytes after Itgb1 siRNA for 48 hours (n = 3 each); the densitometry of Integrin β1 (x; p = 2.53e−5), pFAK (y; p = 0.00035) and PPARγ (z; p = 0.000361) proteins. Data represent the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001; n refers to sample size. Statistical significance was determined by two-tailed unpaired t-test. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.