Figure 4
From: Mimicking Paracrine TGFβ1 Signals during Myofibroblast Differentiation in 3D Collagen Networks
Nuclear Smad2/3 is expressed after stimulation with TGFβ1. Non-TGFβ1 stimulated fibroblasts (“empty beads”, upper row) exhibit only similar faint Smad2/3 staining in nucleus and cytosol. In comparison, TGFβ1 stimulated cells show strong nuclear Smad2/3. Correspondingly, actin stress fibers show αSMA staining in case of TGFβ1 stimulation. TGFβ1 delivery – whether 10 ng/ml systemic (lower row) or sustained local release of 55 pg/ml from µ-beads (middle row) – leads to comparable results. Scale bar: 50 µm. White dashed circle in the merged images indicates µ-bead position.
