Fig. 1

Characterization of the fibrosis markers COL1 and α-SMA, and PPARs in lung tissue and cultured fibroblasts from control and IPF patients. A Lung tissue sections from control (left side) and IPF (right side) patients were incubated with antibodies to detect collagen (COL1, green) and α-SMA (red), and counterstained with DAPI (blue). Negative controls (NC) were done by omitting the primary antibody. B There was no difference in the release of collagen between fibroblasts from control and IPF patients. The release of collagen into culture media was measured using Sircol assay. Data represent 5 control and 5 IPF patients across six independent fibroblast cultures. C The release of active TGF-β1 is higher in control than in IPF fibroblasts. The amount of active human TGF-β1 was analyzed in the culture media of fibroblasts from 5 controls and 7 IPF patients by ELISA. D The protein levels of PPAR-α were higher in IPF compared to control fibroblasts, whereas there was no difference with regard to PPAR-β/δ and PPAR-γ. Cultured fibroblasts from 5 control and 7 IPF patients were collected and their protein levels were analyzed by Western blot analysis with GAPDH as reference protein