Fig. 1

Activin A increases fibronectin expression in HTR8/SVneo cells. A and B, Volcano plots obtained from RNA-Seq analysis of HTR8/SVneo cells treated with or without activin A for 6 h (A) or 24 h (B). C, The Venn diagram displays an overlap of 1816 DEGs between 6 h and 24 h of activin A treatment. D, The Mfuzz time series clustering of 1816 DEGs after 0-6-24 h of activin A treatment. The color gradient, ranging from yellow to navy blue, signifies the increasing suitability of gene trends in accordance with the alterations within the cluster. A total of 339 genes, including FN1, were in Cluster 1. E, GO enrichment analysis of Cluster 1. F and G, HTR8/SVneo cells were treated with different concentrations (0, 10, 20, 50 or 100 ng/mL) of activin A for 24 h, and the mRNA (F) and protein (G) levels of fibronectin were examined by RT–qPCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. H and I, HTR8/SVneo cells were treated with vehicle (Ctrl) or 50 ng/mL activin A for different lengths of time (1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 h for mRNA; 24 or 48 h for protein), and the mRNA (H) and protein (I) levels of fibronectin were examined by RT–qPCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. Quantitative results are expressed as the mean ± SEM of at least three independent experiments. One-way ANOVA was used for analyses of the five groups in (F) and (G). Two-way ANOVA was used for grouped analyses in (H) and (I). Groups without letters in common are significantly different from each other (P < 0.05). P values of primary interest are denoted as * < 0.05, ** < 0.01, and *** < 0.001