Human ciliary muscle cell responses to kinins: Activation of ERK1/2 and pro-matrix metalloproteinases secretion

Figure 2 Time-course of bradykinin activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 in cultured primary human ciliary muscle cells. Serum-deprived h-CM cells were incubated with either vehicle as control or with BK (100 nmol/L) for different time periods. At the end of incubation, cell lysates were analyzed for phosphorylated ERK1/2 as described in the Methods section. Data shown are blank (with nothing added), negative control (just vehicle added), followed by time control and with BK over 2-15 min. The BK-stimulated response was compared with its respective vehicle control at the same time of study. Statistical significances were determined by Student’s t-test with P < 0.05 being the minimally acceptable level of significance. Data are mean ± SEMs from 3 experiments. Differs from control at ^aP < 0.05 by Student’s t-test. The inset depicts a concentration-response curve for ERK1/2 activation by different concentrations of BK (1, 3, 10, 30, 100 nmol/L, etc.). ERK1/2: Extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2; h-CM: Human ciliary muscle; BK: Bradykinin.