Fig. 2

a Western blot analyses (left) and the relative densitometric values (right) of cluster of differentiation 31 (CD31), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A, and VEGF-A165b. Densitometric data are representative of three technical triplicates and are expressed as mean ± SD. The values of protein synthesis obtained for each treatment (bosentan [BOS] and macitentan [MAC]) were normalized to that of the untreated cells (CTR) taken as unit value by definition. Analysis of variance and Tukey’s multiple-comparisons test were performed for each group (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). b Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses for CD31 (top), VEGF-A (middle), and VEGF-A165b (bottom) confirm the results observed in Western blot analysis. The results are expressed as median (range) of six biological replicates (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). mRNA Messenger RNA; EndoMT Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition