Figure 3. Nintedanib inhibits three-dimensional (3D) collagen gel contraction and α smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression induced by transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1). A: Human Tenon’s fibroblasts (HTFs) were treated with TGF-β1 (5 ng/ml) in the presence or absence of nintedanib (1 μM) for 24 h. The gel contraction was detected by a three-dimensional (3D) collagen lattice contraction experiment. B,C: HTFs were treated with TGF-β1 (5 ng/ml) in the presence or absence of SB203580 or nintedanib (1 μM) for 24 h. The mRNA (B) and protein (C) expression of α-SMA were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot, respectively, and normalized to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) expression. Data are presented as the means ± standard deviations (SDs; n = 3) of independent repeated experiments (* p<0.01; *** p<0.001; **** p<0.0001 compared with the control or TGF-β1 group).