Fig. 1

BAFF promotes proliferation of human mesangial cells in vitro. Equal numbers of human mesangial cell were subjected to serum starvation for 6 h and then treated with vehicle or BAFF (5, 20, 100 ng/mL) in medium containing 2 % serum medium for 48 h. Cell proliferation was measured with MTS cell proliferation kit (a) and alive cells were manually counted (b). For CFSE labeling, cells were incubated with CFSE before culture. The proliferation of cells is indicated by the decline of DNA-incorporated CFSE fluorescence (c). For the time course assay of proliferation, BAFF (20 ng/mL) was added into the cell culture after serum starvation. Cell proliferation was measured at 490 nm following the instructions of the MTS cell proliferation kit (d). Each experiment was repeated independently at least four times and statistical significance is indicated, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01