Figure 9. Hsp70 protein expression at 24 h after treatment

A total of 12 lens epithelial explants from each of the eight treatment groups were used for western blot analysis of Hsp70 (70 kDa) protein expression. HeLa cell lysate (positive control), control (lanes 1 and 2), FGF-2 (lanes 3 and 4), TGF-β2 (lanes 5 and 6), and TGF-β2/FGF-2 (lanes 7 and 8) lens epithelial explants under normal conditions (lanes 1, 3, 5, and 7) and after heat shocked treatment (lanes 2, 4, 6, and 8) are shown. β-Actin (42 kDa) protein expression serves as an internal control and is used to normalize the protein band intensity. The bar graph represents the Hsp70 protein expression (percent of normal control; ±SEM) for control, FGF-2, TGF-β2, and TGF-β2/FGF-2 treated lens epithelial explant extracts from normal culture and heat shocked conditions. Statistical analysis (ANOVA: p is less than or equal to 0.05) shows that there is a significant treatment effect. The asterisk indicates that the heat shocked treated explants: control (120.6%±4.8%), FGF-2 (121.7%±3.7%), TGF-β2 (118.9%±3.7%), and TGF-β2/FGF-2 (120.6%±6.4%) demonstrated a significant increase of Hsp70 expression when compared to their respective normal conditioned explants: control (100%), FGF-2 (108.0%±3.7%), TGF-β2 (100.1%±4.1%), and TGF-β2/FGF-2 (97.5%±5.0%). In addition, Hsp70 expression of all heat shocked groups is significantly higher than the normal control 24 h after initial treatment.