Effect of TGF-β1 on phosphorylation of Smad2 in FPTEC, HREC and HK-2.

The effect of a 30 minute treatment with 10ng/ml TGF-β1 on the expression of phosphorylated Smad2 (p-Smad2) in FPTEC, HREC and HK-2 was assessed by western blotting. Densitometric analysis of p-Smad2 was undertaken in ImageJ, normalised to β-actin and is expressed as fold change in relation to control. Incubation with TGF-β1 resulted in a significant increase in p-Smad2 expression in FPTEC (P = 0.038), HREC (P = 0.0393) and HK-2 (P < 0.0001). Data were analysed using the Student’s t-test. The columns represent the mean normalised density measurement and error bars represent the standard deviation. Images are representative of three experiments. *P<0.05, ****P<0.0001.