Fig. 1

Effects of pirfenidone on TGF-β1-stimulated collagen gel contraction and chemotaxis in HFL-1 cells. HFL-1 cells were cultured and cast into three-dimensional collagen gels that were maintained in suspension; the gel size was measured daily. HFL-1 cells grown in a monolayer culture were trypsinized and their chemotactic activity toward fibronectin (20 μg/mL) was assessed using the Boyden blind well chamber technique. (a) Collagen gel contraction in the presence of various concentrations of pirfenidone in the presence or absence of 0.25 ng/mL (10 pM) TGF-β1. (b) Collagen gel contraction following treatment with various concentrations of TGF-β1 in the presence or absence of 100 μg/mL pirfenidone. (c) The number of migrated fibroblasts following treatment with various concentrations of pirfenidone in the presence or absence of 0.25 ng/mL TGF-β1. (d) Number of migrated fibroblasts following treatment with various concentrations of TGF-β1 in the presence or absence of 100 μg/mL pirfenidone. Collagen gel contraction vertical axis: gel size measured after 2 days of contraction expressed as a percentage of the initial value. Chemotaxis vertical axis: number of migrated cells per five high-power fields (5 HPF). Horizontal axis: conditions. Values represent means ± SEMs of three to five separate experiments, each of which included three replicates. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001