Figure 5

A-D. Suppressive effect of Dex and inhibitors of p38 and JNK on iNOS expression and NO release in LPS activated BV-2 cells. iNOS mRNA (179bp) was amplified (A) and effects of Dex and inhibitors of p38 and JNK on iNOS mRNA expression were examined by the real time RT-PCR. Both Dex (B) and inhibitors of p38 and JNK (D) decreased the induction of iNOS mRNA expression levels significantly in activated BV-2 cells when compared with that in LPS-treated cells. Nitrite assay further shows that NO release was inhibited by Dex in LPS-induced BV-2 cells (C). The data represent the mean ± SD (n = 3)* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.