Fig. 4

The effects of the Smad2/3/4 signaling pathway on ClC-3-mediated regulation of osteogenic genes and proteins in MC3T3-E1 cells. The mRNA levels of Alp, Runx2, Osx and Collagen I were significantly decreased when ClC-3 and Smads were silenced, but the degree of this decrease was lower when ClC-3 and Smads were silenced together than in the two former groups (a), as was protein expression of ALP, Runx2, Osx and Collagen I (b), and the relative quantification of protein bands (c). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 compared with the control group. ^#P < 0.05, ^##P < 0.01 compared between the experimental groups