Fig. 6: Mechanistic analysis of antifibrogenic function for scarless urethral remodeling at the later stage.

A, B Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses of fibroblast DEGs after mRNA sequencing in TOR-functionalized hydrogels between the F1 and F4 groups at the early stage (A), as well as between the F4 and F7 groups at the later stage (B), including the top 15 representative upregulated or downregulated signaling pathways. C, D The corresponding gene (C) and protein (D) expression levels (TGFBR2, Smad3, MMP1, α-SMA, elastin, COL1, COL3, and fibronectin) of fibroblasts in TOR-functionalized hydrogels after 1-, 4-, and 7-days culture, revealing the molecular mechanism of scarless urethral remodeling through inhibition of the TGFβ signaling pathway. n = 4 biologically independent samples. Data are presented as mean ± SD. All error bars represent SD. p values calculated using one-tailed unpaired t-test. ns = no significance. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.