Journal: Journal of Advanced Research

Article Title: Direct pharmacological targeting of Piezo1 by Paeoniflorin: a novel therapeutic approach for renal fibrosis

doi: 10.1016/j.jare.2025.07.015

Figure Lengend Snippet: PF inhibits matrix stiffness-induced acceleration of EndMT through Piezo1 activation (A–F) Matrix stiffness-dependent protein modulation in HUVECs. HUVECs were cultured on polyacrylamide hydrogels with soft (1.00 ± 0.31 kPa) or stiff (40.40 ± 2.39 kPa) for 48 h, with or without PF. (A) Western blot analysis of (B) Piezo1, (C) VE-Cadherin, (D) eNOS, (E) Vimentin, and (F) TGF-β1. Quantification normalized to GAPDH. (n = 3; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. soft; #p < 0.05 vs. stiff without PF). (G-L) Piezo1 knockdown reverses stiffness-induced EndMT. HUVECs transfected with Piezo1 siRNA (50 nM, 24 h) or scramble siRNA (control) were cultured on stiffness hydrogels (40.40 ± 2.39 kPa) ± PF (400 μM). (G) Western blot analysis of (H) Piezo1, (I) VE-Cadherin, (J) eNOS, (K) Vimentin, and (L) TGF-β1. Quantification normalized to GAPDH (n = 3; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. scramble siRNA control; ns vs. Piezo1 siRNA without PF).(M) Schematic of co-culture model. HUVECs and NRK-49F fibroblasts were co-cultured on stiffness-tunable hydrogels using a transwell system (0.4 μm pore size) for 5 days to assess paracrine signaling. (N) TGF-β1 levels in HUVEC supernatants from the co-culture system were quantified by ELISA. (n = 3; *p < 0.05 vs. softness; #p < 0.05 vs. stiffness without PF). (O) Fibrotic gene expression in NRK-49F cells. RT-qPCR analysis of Fibronectin , COL1A1 , Vimentin , and TGF-β1 mRNA levels. Data normalized to 18 s ( n = 3). (P-S) Fibrotic protein expression in NRK-49F cells. (P) Western blot analysis of (Q) Fibronectin, (R) COL1, (S) Vimentin, and (T) TGF-β1. Quantification normalized to GAPDH (n = 3). (U–V) Immunofluorescence of Fibronectin (red) in NRK-49F cells. Nuclei stained with DAPI (blue). (U) Representative images. (V) Quantification of fluorescence intensity using ImageJ (n = 3). Scale bar: 20 μm. Data presented as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs . softness co-culture; # p < 0.05 vs . stiffness co-culture without PF . (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Article Snippet: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and rat kidney fibroblast cell line (NRK-49F) were purchased from ATCC (American Type Culture Collection, https://www.atcc.org ).

Techniques: Activation Assay, Cell Culture, Western Blot, Knockdown, Transfection, Control, Co-Culture Assay, Pore Size, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay, Gene Expression, Quantitative RT-PCR, Expressing, Immunofluorescence, Staining, Fluorescence

Journal: Journal of Advanced Research

Article Title: Direct pharmacological targeting of Piezo1 by Paeoniflorin: a novel therapeutic approach for renal fibrosis

doi: 10.1016/j.jare.2025.07.015

Figure Lengend Snippet: PF inhibits EndMT through the Piezo1-mediated HIF-1α signaling pathway (A–C) Renal HIF-1α expression analysis. (A) Representative RT-qPCR analysis of HIF-1α mRNA levels in kidney tissues. Data normalized to 18 s . (B-C) Western blot and quantification of HIF-1α protein expression in renal tissues. Data normalized to GAPDH (n = 5–6) . (D–H) Effects of PF or HIF-1α inhibitor BAY 87-2243 (10 μM, 24 h) on endothelial markers in HUVECs cultured with or without Piezo1 activation by Yoda1 (5 μM, 12 h). (D) Western blot analysis of (E) Piezo1, (F) HIF-1α, (G) VE-Cadherin, and (H) eNOS. Quantification normalized to GAPDH. Quantification showing Yoda1-induced Piezo1 upregulation and HIF-1α/VE-Cadherin/eNOS downregulation, reversed by PF or BAY 87-2243 (n = 3). (I-K) PF or BAY 87-2243 inhibits Yoda1-induced EndMT in HUVECs. (I) Western blot analysis of (J) Vimentin and (K) TGF-β1. Yoda1 increased Vimentin and TGF-β1, suppressed by PF or BAY 87-2243 (n = 3). (L) Schematic of HUVEC-NRK-49F co-culture. HUVECs pre-treated with/without Yoda1 (5 μM, 6 h) were co-cultured with NRK-49F fibroblasts for 48 h. (M) TGF-β1 levels in HUVEC supernatants from the co-culture system were quantified by ELISA. (N) RT-qPCR analysis of Fn1 , COL1A1 , and Vimentin mRNA in NRK-49F cells co-cultured with Yoda1-treated HUVECs. PF attenuated Yoda1-induced fibrotic marker expression (n = 3). (O-S) Western blot validation of (P) Fibronectin, (Q) COL1, (R) Vimentin, and (S) TGF-β1 in NRK-49F cells. PF reduced Yoda1-induced protein expression (n = 3). Data presented as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 vs. CTL/control; # p < 0.05, ## p < 0.01, ### p < 0.001 vs. CRF/Yoda1.

Article Snippet: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and rat kidney fibroblast cell line (NRK-49F) were purchased from ATCC (American Type Culture Collection, https://www.atcc.org ).

Techniques: Expressing, Quantitative RT-PCR, Western Blot, Cell Culture, Activation Assay, Co-Culture Assay, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay, Marker, Biomarker Discovery, Control

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Towards molecular-based functional classification of fetal bovine serum

doi: 10.64898/2026.03.16.712020

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Hierarchical clustering dendrograms of FBS conditions based on differential gene expression profiles in MRC-5 (left), Jurkat (middle), and THP-1 (right) cells. Clustering was performed using the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs; |log2FC| > 0.6, adjusted p-value < 0.05) as a distance metric. Horizontal red lines indicate the clustering threshold of 100 DEGs, defining distinct FBS clusters. MRC-5 and THP-1 cells show 4 distinct clusters, while Jurkat cells display 5 clusters, revealing cell type-specific responses to FBS alternatives. (B) Module size distributions from WGCNA for MRC-5 (left), Jurkat (middle), and THP-1 (right) cells. Bar colors represent distinct co-expression modules identified using signed networks with Pearson correlation (soft-thresholding power selected to achieve scale-free topology R ≥ 0.8; minimum module size = 30 genes; merge cut height = 0.25). MRC-5 cells: 7 modules (turquoise: 4,728 genes; blue: 3,580; brown: 2,417; grey: 936; yellow: 634; green: 447; red: 234). Jurkat cells: 7 modules (turquoise: 4,234; blue: 3,635; grey: 2,289; brown: 1,464; yellow: 660; green: 240; red: 204). THP-1 cells: 5 modules (turquoise: 4,201; blue: 4,16; grey: 2,478; brown: 2,184; yellow: 434). (C) Module-trait relationship heatmaps showing Pearson correlations between module eigengenes and FBS cluster assignments for MRC-5 (left), Jurkat (middle), and THP-1 (right) cells. Each cell displays the correlation coefficient (color scale: blue = -0.5, white = 0, red = 0.5) and corresponding p-value. Significant correlations (p < 0.05, calculated using corPvalueStudent) indicate modules with expression patterns specifically associated with FBS clusters. Notable associations include: MRC-5 turquoise module with Cluster 1 (r = - 0.45, p = 3.22×10 ); Jurkat red module with Cluster 2 (r = 0.76, p = 1.38×10 ); THP-1 yellow module with Cluster 1 (r = 0.65, p = 2.54×10 8).

Article Snippet: The adherent human lung fibroblast cell line MRC-5 (CCL-171), the suspension human monocytic cell line THP-1 (TIB-202), and the human acute T-cell leukemic cell line Jurkat Clone E6-1 (TIB-152) were purchased from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, USA).

Techniques: Gene Expression, Expressing