Figure 5

Hormonal regulation of MK in isolated human Type II-like cells. A) Representative western blot and B) Densitometry analysis of MK expression in human fetal alveolar epithelial cells treated with different hormone combination: Alveolar epithelial cells obtained from second trimester human fetal lung tissue treated with hormones (DEX, cAMP and IBMX, or DCI) to differentiate them into alveolar type II (ATII) cells have significantly decreased MK protein content at day 3 and day 5 as compared to controls with no treatment (*p < 0.01). However, RA treatment alone or concomitant RA treatment with hormones was associated with significant increase in MK protein expression (**p < 0.05). C) Fetal lung fibroblasts isolated from the same second trimester human fetal lung tissue were treated with DEX or DCI with/or without RA. Expression of MK was very low irrespective of treatment groups. GAPDH expression was used as a loading control.