Fig. 1

The effect of sulphoraphane (SFN) treatment on the morphology and protein markers in the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in A549 epithelial cells. The cells were pre-treated with the indicated concentrations of SFN for 1 h and then stimulated with TGF-β1 (1.0 ng/ml) for 24 h except α-smooth muscle actin for 72 h. The effects of SFN on cell viability for 24, 48, and 72 h (b). SFN treatment restored the TGF-β1-induced changes in epithelial morphology with original magnification, × 200 (a). Western blot analysis of the epithelial cell marker (E-cadherin), and the mesenchymal markers (N-cadherin, vimentin, and α-smooth muscle actin) (c). The mRNA levels of EMT-related transcription factors including Slug (d), Snail (e), and Twist (f) were measured by the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The data are expressed as means ± standard deviation of at least three different experiments. ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.001 versus the control; ^†p < 0.05, ^††p < 0.01, ^†††p < 0.001 versus TGF-β1 induction