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Figure 6 Adhesion of OPN^–/– cardiac fibroblasts to a panel of ECM substrates is reduced versus WT cells and can be returned toward WT levels with addition of recombinant OPN. The figure shows a comparison of adhesion of neonatal cardiac fibroblasts from WT, untreated OPN^–/– versus OPN^–/– cells grown in the presence of recombinant OPN (OPN^–/– + recOPN) to a panel of ECM components, as indicated along the x-axis (BSA = bovine serum albumin, COL = collagen I, FN = fibronectin, LN = laminin, and VN = vitronectin). Overall adhesion of WT-derived cells is greater than that of OPN^–/–derived cells (*p <0.001 for all substrates). Growth of OPN-derived fibroblasts in the presence of recombinant OPN increased their adhesion towards normal WT values (p < 0.01 for all substrates). White bars = wild-type (WT); hatched bars = OPN^–/–; black bars = OPN^–/– + recombinant OPN. BSA = bovine serum albumin, COL = collagen I, FN = fibronectin, LN = laminin, and VN = vitronectin. Other abbreviations as in Figure 1.