Figure 3. MMP-2 degrades fibrillin-2, not fibrillin-1, in PDL fibroblast cell layers. (A) Gingival fibroblasts (G) and PDL fibroblasts (P) were cultured for 6 wks, after which MMPI (5 µM) or TIMP-2 (50 ng/mL) was added to the media for 2 wks. Microfibril-containing fractions (10 µg) were analyzed by Western blotting. (B) Densitometric scanning of the bands was performed with National Institute of Health imaging software, as shown in (A). The values for each six-week culture sample were arbitrarily assigned a value of 100. The results represent the means ± SD (standard deviation) of 3 independent experimental determinations (*p < 0.05).