The decrease in HTR-8/SVneo cell migration was accompanied with a reduction in the ERK1/2 activation pathway.

(A) A representative Western blot assay of p-ERK1/2 and total ERK from protein extracts of shC and shD7 cells. The bar graph represents the densitometric quantification of p-ERK1/2 protein normalized to total ERK expression in shD7 relative to the corresponding normalized levels in shC cells defined as one. Values are mean ± SEM of three independent experiments (*p< 0.05, one sample t-test). (B) A representative Western blot assay of Cx43 from protein extracts of shD7 cells treated or not with EGF 20 or 40 ng/mL for 8 hours. Bar graph represents the densitometric quantification of Cx43 protein levels in shD7 cells normalized to α-tubulin of three independent experiments relative to the normalized protein levels in shC cells defined as 1 (mean ± SEM, *p< 0.05, one-way ANOVA). (C) A representative Western blot assay of three independent experiments of p-ERK1/2 and total ERK from protein extracts of shC and shD7 cells treated or not with 15 ng/mL EGF during 30 and 120 min. The p-ERK/ERK ratio in the EGF-treated or not shD7 and EFG-treated shC cells relative to untreated shC cells is indicated below.