RAGE signaling affects the RNA and protein levels of different key proteins involved in the VSMC contractile phenotype.

<p>A, Histogram of the mRNA levels of SM-α-actin, SM-MHC, MyoC and SM-22α measured via qPCR, immunoblots indicate (B) SM-α-actin, (C) SM-MHC, (D) MyoC and (E) SM-22α protein levels and (F) Semi-quantitative analysis of the indicated protein levels in A7r5 cells stimulated 24 hours with 1 mg/ml AGE-HSA or 1 mg/ml CML-HSA. Each bar represents 10–12 independent experiments. For mRNA, the data are expressed relative to PBS. For the protein levels, the data were normalized based on the corresponding tubulin loading control and then expressed as a % relative to PBS. * <i>p</i> < 0.05 compared with PBS using one-way ANOVA followed by Dunett’s post-test.