(SDS)-polyacrylamide gels to resolve the 66-kDa band corresponding to monomeric
osteopontin (OPN) and then electroblotted onto Hybond-P polyvinylidene
difluoride transfer membranes (BioRad Laboratories, CA, USA). After blocking (5%
non-fat dry milk in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), 30 min, RT), the membranes
were incubated overnight at 4°C with 1:1000 of a rabbit anti-human OPN
polyclonal antibody (Ab8448; Abcam, UK) in 5% non-fat dry milk in PBS. After
washing with tween-supplemented tris-buffered saline (TBS-T) 0.3% for 30 min,
the membranes were incubated for 1 h at RT with a goat anti-rabbit IgG
horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated polyclonal antibody (1:5000; A0545;
Sigma-Aldrich) and developed with a chemiluminescence enhancement kit (Clarity™
Western ECL blotting substrate; BioRad). GAPDH was used as housekeeping by means
of 1:15,000 mouse anti-human GAPDH monoclonal antibody (G8795; Sigma-Aldrich).
Band densities were quantified from digital acquisition by a Gel Logic 2200
Imaging System (Kodak, NY, USA) using NIH ImageJ software on the replicates of
each of the independent experiments. OPN protein expression was normalized to
GAPDH and described as fold increase compared to time-matched controls.