Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of HGF in blocking TGF-β1-induced collagen III and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) production in rat healing fibroblasts, fibroblasts were obtained from healing medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury. Cell culture was supplemented with 5 ng/ml of TGF-β1 along with increasing doses of HGF (10–40 ng/ml). The productions of collagen III in supernatants culture were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Expression of α-SMA was assessed by Western blot. Treatment with TGF-β1 significantly stimulated collagen III and α-SMA production in healing fibroblasts. Remarkably, the addition of HGF reduced productions of all components induced by TGF-β1 in a dose-dependent manner. This study shows that HGF antagonizes the action of TGF-β1 effectively in cultured healing MCL injury fibroblasts. The results provide a cellular and molecular basis for HGF’s acting as a therapeutic agent for MCL scar formation and poor healing.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang (D200618). We would also like to thank Jiyou Sun for his help with the statistical analysis.
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Jiang, D., Jiang, Z., Han, F. et al. HGF suppresses the production of collagen type III and α-SMA induced by TGF-β1 in healing fibroblasts. Eur J Appl Physiol 103, 489–493 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-008-0733-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-008-0733-7