Protective effect of Ac-SDKP on alveolar epithelial cells through inhibition of EMT via TGF-β1/ROCK1 pathway in silicosis in rat
Abstract
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical stage during the development of silicosis fibrosis. In the current study, we hypothesized that the anti-fibrotic tetrapeptide, N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline (Ac-SDKP) may exert its anti-fibrotic effects via activation of the TGF-β1/ROCK1 pathway, leading to inhibition of EMT. To address this hypothesis, we first examined the effect of Ac-SDKP upon EMT using an in vivo rat silicosis model, as well as in an in vitro model of TGF-β1-induced EMT. Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to examine colocalization of surfactant protein A (SP-A), fibroblast specific protein-1 (FSP-1) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in vivo. Western blot analysis was used to examine for changes in the protein levels of E-cadherin (E-cad) and SP-A (epithelial cell markers), vimentin (mesenchymal cell marker), α-SMA (active myofibroblast marker), and collagen I and III in both in vivo and in vitro experiments. Secondly, we utilized Western blot analysis and confocal laser scanning microscopy to examine the protein expression of TGF-β1 and ROCK1 in in vivo and in vitro studies. The results revealed that Ac-SDKP treatment prevented increases in the expression of mesenchymal markers as w...Continue Reading
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Investigating the antifibrotic potential of N-acetyl seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline sequence peptides.
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