Synergism of calycosin and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to combat podocyte apoptosis to alleviate adriamycin-induced focal segmental glomerulosclerosis

Figure 6 Calycosin-pretreated mesenchymal stem cells improve adriamycin-induced podocyte apoptosis by targeting p-Smad3 expression. A and B: Protein expression levels of p-Smad3 and Smad3 in mouse podocyte cells (MPC5) detected by Western blot and normalized to control. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD (n = 3). ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.001; C-G: Protein expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, p-Smad3, and Smad3 in Smad3-overexpressing MPC5 cells detected by Western blot and normalized to control. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD (n = 3). ^bP < 0.001; H-L: Cell apoptosis detected by flow cytometry; M: Graphical abstract (created in BioRender.com). NC: Normal control; ADR: Adriamycin; MSCs: Mesenchymal stem cells; CA: Calycosin; MSCs^CA: Mesenchymal stem cells pretreated with calycosin; FSGS: Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.