Fura 3 am

The rat mesangial cell line HBZY-1 was obtained from the Chinese Center for Type Culture Collection (Wuhan, China). Cell culture materials were purchased from Gibco BRL (Gaithersburg, MD, USA). Aldo, Spironolactone (Spi), Lucifer Yellow (LY), GF109203X (PKC inhibitor), and Fura-3/AM were from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). PD98059 (ERK1/2 inhibitor) and LY294002 (PI3K inhibitor) were purchased from Calbiochem (Cambridge, MA, USA). Antibodies against Cx43, β-actin and all secondary horseradish peroxidase-conjugated antibodies were obtained from Cell Signaling Technology, Inc. (Beverly, MA, USA). Immobilon PVDF membrane was obtained from Millipore (Bedford, MA, USA). All other chemicals are analytical grade.

Collagenase-1, DNase-1, FITC-dextran, Bradford reagent, Hematoxylin and Eosin, Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) stain, Bradford reagent, N-Formylmethionine-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP), FITC phalloidin and Fura-3-AM were purchased from Sigma Aldrich (St Louis, MO). May Grunwald-Giemsa stain was purchased from Merck & Co. (Darmstadt, Germany). Mouse CD11c, CD4 and F4/80 cell separation kits were purchased from Miltenyi Biotec (Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany). Trizol reagent, cDNA synthesis kit, SYBR green master mix, 3,3 ,5,5 -Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) substrate and F4/80 anti-mouse monoclonal antibody was purchased from Thermo Scientific (Paisley, UK). Mouse IL-4, IFN-γ, and TNF-α ELISA kits were purchased from Biolegend (San Diego, CA). IL-13, IL-17, and TGF-β ELISA kits were purchased from R&D. Function blocking anti-α4 and anti-B7 antibodies, and monoclonal antibodies against CCL-5, CCL-11, CD4, PDCA-1, and FoxP3 were purchased from eBioscience (San Diego, CA). IL-5 ELISA kit, Annexin-FITC apoptosis assay kit, and all other anti-mouse monoclonal antibodies viz. CD11c, CD11b, CD8a, CD45, Gr-1 Siglec-F, MHC-II, CD49d, CD8, CD44, and CD62L were purchased from BD Biosciences (Heidelberg, Germany).