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Fig. 3 | BMC Urology

Fig. 3

From: Uni-axial stretch induces actin stress fiber reorganization and activates c-Jun NH2 terminal kinase via RhoA and Rho kinase in human bladder smooth muscle cells

Fig. 3

Actin stress fiber re-organization induced by mechanical stretch. a HBSMCs were exposed to uni-axial stretch (15 % elongation) for 1, 4 or 8 h and cellular actin was then stained with phalloidin conjugated with Alexa-Fluor 594 at 1:200 dilution (red). Nuclei were dyed blue using 300 nM DAPI. Representative staining of cells (a) before stretch and (b, c) after stretching for 4 h. (c) The scheme of the measurement of stretch fiber angles; Actin fibers at right angles to the stretch direction were defined as having an angle of 0° and those parallel with the stretch direction were defined as having an angle of 90°. The scale bar in pictures indicates 20 μm. b Quantification of the angles of actin stress fibers at each time point. The direction of the actin stress fibers in each cell was determined by averaging the angles of 5 obvious fibers within a cell (n = 50 cells per time point). Data are expressed as the median ± interquartile. An * indicates p < 0.05

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