Fig 1: Curcumin inhibits D-gal-induced decreased barrier function in SCs in vitro. (a–d) SCs with immunofluorescence of SHBG (green) and SOX9 (red) are identified. (e) SCs are treated with 0, 5, 10, 20, and 40 g/L D-gal for 48 h. Western blotting of Claudin-11, p21, ZO-1, p16, and Occludin proteins. (f) SCs are subjected to 48 h of treatment with D-gal (40 g/L) and/or Curcumin at the concentrations required. Western blotting was conducted to analyze ZO-1, Occludin, and Claudin-11 proteins, with ß-actin as the loading control. The mean ± SEM is applied to exhibit the values; *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 vs. the control group; #P < 0.05 and ##P < 0.01 vs. the D-gal treatment group.