Fig. 3

Pirfenidone reduced both TGF-β1-induced and basal phospho-p38 levels in DD-derived fibroblasts. a CT- and DD-cord derived fibroblasts derived from three different patient samples (N = 3/group) were maintained in α-MEM medium containing 0.1% dialyzed FBS for 24 h. After 24 h, cells were either left as controls or treated with PFD (800 μg/ml) in the presence or absence of TGF-β₁ (10 ng/ml) for 5 min. Cell lysates collected were subjected to Western blot analyses to determine the expression of phospho-p38. b Densitometry results are reported as the ratio of phosphorylated p-38 protein level to GAPDH expression. Values are means ± standard error mean (SEM) of three independent studies from each of CT- and DD- derived fibroblasts. Shown here is a representative image of Western blots from three different cultures of CT- and DD-cord derived fibroblasts, each showing similar results. *p < 0.04. Ntx; No treatment, PFD- Pirfenidone, TGF-β₁, T + P; TGF- β₁ + Pirfenidone