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Fig. 8 | Cardiovascular Diabetology

Fig. 8

From: Tissue-engineered smooth muscle cell and endothelial progenitor cell bi-level cell sheets prevent progression of cardiac dysfunction, microvascular dysfunction, and interstitial fibrosis in a rodent model of type 1 diabetes-induced cardiomyopathy

Fig. 8

Simple Western assay demonstrates increased levels of pro-angiogenic cytokines and decreased markers of fibrosis and apoptosis 4 weeks following EPC-SMC bi-level cell sheet implantation. a VEGF protein expression was decreased in the untreated diabetic group with significantly higher relative VEGF expression in the cell sheet treatment group as compared to untreated animals. b–d TGF-β1, TGF-β receptor 1, and TGF-β receptor 2 protein expression was increased in the untreated diabetic group with significantly higher relative expression of TGF-β1, TGF-β receptor 1, and TGF-β receptor 2 in the untreated animals than in the cell sheet treatment group. e–f Caspase-3 and caspase-9 protein expression were increased in the untreated animals with significantly lower relative expression in the cell sheet treated group as compared to the untreated group. *P < 0.001, **P < 0.05, ***P < 0.01

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