Fig. 4

Anti-fibrotic effects of HA-iMSC-EVs on NRCF undergoing fibrosis. a, b Western blot image show the expression of fibrosis-related proteins such as Collagen 1, Fibronectin, MMP2, and TIMP1 were suppressed by 400 μg/mL of HA-iMSC-EVs treatment in NRCF treated with 1 μg/mL of TGF-β1 (a) and the graphs show quantification results (b). Mean ± SE, n = 4, **p < 0.01 vs Control, ^###p < 0.001; ^#p < 0.05 vs PBS; one-way ANOVA. c, d Western blot image shows that the expression of phosphorylated SMAD2 was suppressed in NRCF treated with TGF-β1 by HA-iMSC-EVs, and the graph shows the quantification results. Mean ± SE, n = 4, ***p < 0.001 vs Control, ^##p < 0.01 vs PBS; one-way ANOVA