Magnesium Inhibits Wnt/β-Catenin Activity and Reverses the Osteogenic Transformation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells
Figure 3
Magnesium inhibits β-catenin translocation into the nucleus in VSMC.
VSMC cultured with 3.3+1.4 mM Mg, and 3.3 mM P+1.4 mM Mg+10 µM 2-APB. Control group with 0.9 mM P+0.8 mM Mg was also included. Intracellular localization of β-catenin was visualized by immunofluorescence using confocal microscopy. (A) For each group, β-catenin (green immunofluorescence) is shown left; in the middle the same sample is counterstained with DAPI (blue) for nuclear stain; the merged image is shown right. Images represent four different experiments. (B) Quantification of nuclear β-catenin staining was performed by the Mander's coefficient (M2 plugin: DAPI vs. green). a, P<0.005 vs controls; b, P<0.005 vs VSMC with 3.3 mM P+0.8 mM Mg; and c, P<0.05 vs VSMC with 3.3 mM P+1.4 mM Mg. Bars are the mean±SE of four experiments.