Troglitazone (Tro) reverses TGF-β1-induced EMT in primary AEC. ZhouBeiyun T. BuckleyStephen PatelVipul LiuYixin LuoJiao Sai KrishnaveniManda IvanMihaela DeMaioLucas KimKwang-Jin EhrhardtCarsten D. CrandallEdward BorokZea 2012 <p>A. Following treatment with TGF-β1 starting on day 2 for 6 days, ZO-1 immunoreactivity was markedly decreased while α-SMA was robustly expressed, reflecting that cells are undergoing EMT (<i>ii,vi</i>). Following subsequent treatment with troglitazone for an additional 6 days (from day 8 through day 14), ZO-1 expression was restored and α-SMA returned to control levels (<i>iv, viii</i>). Nuclei are labeled with DAPI. Cells treated with TGF-β1 vehicle (<i>i,v</i>) serve as negative control. TGF-β1 removal (<i>iii, vi</i>) only shows partial reversal of EMT. B. Treatment with increasing amounts of TGF-β1 (2.5–10 ng/ml) in the presence of troglitazone (10 µM) does not prevent inhibitory effects of troglitazone on TGF-β1-induced α-SMA expression. These data are representative of three separate experiments. C. Treatment with increasing amounts of troglitazone (2.5–10 µM) in the presence of TGF-β1 (2.5 ng/ml) for 2 hours reduced phosphorylation of Smad2 and Smad3 induced by TGF-β1. These data are representative of two separate experiments.</p>