Fig. 3

Ceramide-induced senescence in myoblasts. A, B SA-β-gal staining of myoblasts. Cells with a blue stain indicate a senescent myoblast. B The number of senescent cells in ceramide-treated myoblasts was significantly higher than in vehicle controls (n = 9). C–F Ceramide significantly upregulated the expression of p21 protein (n = 17), while levels of p53 and p16 remained comparable (n = 6). G mRNA levels of senescence markers in ceramide-treated myoblasts were higher than those in vehicle controls (n = 3). The numbers in the graph indicate the fold changes relative to the control. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 by unpaired t-test. CER, ceramide; IL-6, interleukin-6; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-alpha; MMP-3, matrix metalloproteinase-3; MMP-9, matrix metalloproteinase-9; CXCR3, C-X-C Motif chemokine receptor 3