Fig. 3

Exogenous expression of AQP5 in MKN45, a poorly differentiated human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line. The cells were transfected with the AQP5-pcDNA4/His vector (AQP5) or pcDNA4/His vector (mock) at 24 h after seeding of the cells and cultured for 48 h. a Immunostaining for AQP5 in mock and AQP5-transfected cells. In left panels, optical images of cells are shown. In right panels, fluorescent images are shown. Green color indicates the expression of AQP5 protein in the cells. Scale bars 20 μm. b Western blotting for detecting AQP5 protein (27 kDa) in mock and the AQP5-transfected cells. c Western blotting for checking expression of AQP3 and AQP4 proteins in mock and the AQP5-transfected cells. Membrane fractions of rat kidney and human normal gastric mucosa (No. 5 in Table 1) were used as positive controls for AQP3 (31 kDa) and AQP4 (34 kDa), respectively