Fig. 1

a FGF18 promotes the expression of elastic fiber component proteins in ECs in a concentration-dependent manner; after 24 h of treatment with FGF18 solution of different concentrations, the expression of elastin, fibulin-5, and fibrillin-1 in ECs increased with the increasing FGF18 solution concentration; **p < 0.01 versus the 0 ng/mL group. ***p < 0.005 versus the 0 ng/mL group; b FGF18 promotes the expression of elastic fiber component proteins in ECs in a time-dependent manner; when the concentration of the FGF18 solution was fixed at 100 ng/mL, the expression of the elastic fiber component proteins in ECs increased with the increase in treatment duration; **p < 0.01 versus the 0 h group. ***p < 0.05 versus the 0 h group; c Effects of FGF18 + Itgβ1 on elastic fiber component proteins and Itgβ1 expression in Ecs; the expression of elastic fiber component proteins increased in the groups treated with FGF18. After treatment with FGF18, ECs in the NC + LV-Itgβ1 group showed a higher expression of elastic fiber component proteins than the other groups; FGF18 did not affect the expression of Itgβ1; **p < 0.01 versus the control groups (groups that were not treated with FGF18)