Fig. 3

Vitamin D deficiency aggravates BLM-induced EMT in the lungs. During the VDD group, animals were fed with vitamin D deficient fodder. During the Ctrl group, animals were fed with standard fodder. All animals except controls were injected with BLM (1.5 mg/kg) through the trachea. All animals were sacrificed 2 weeks after BLM. a-d Pulmonary E-cadherin, vimentin and α-SMA were detected using Western blot. a Representative gels for E-cadherin, vimentin and α-SMA and β-actin. Quantitative analyses of scanning densitometry for b E-cadherin, c vimentin and d α-SMA were performed. e Pulmonary α-SMA was measured using IHC. Original magnification: 200×. f α-SMA-positive cells were calculated. All data were expressed as means ± S.E.M. (N = 6). **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05