Fig. 4

Vitamin D deficiency aggravates BLM-induced activation of TGF-β/Smad3 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 Pulmonary Tgf-β1 mRNA was measured by real-time RT-PCR. b and c Phosphorylated Smad3 was detected using Western blot. Quantitative analysis of scanning densitometry for p-Smad3 was performed. d and e Pulmonary ZEB1 was measured using IHC. d A representative picture. Original magnification: 200×. e ZEB1-positive cells were calculated. All data were expressed as means ± SEM (N = 6). **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05