Figure 6
Effect of the A2B adenosine receptor/p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway on the early initiation of ischemia-induced neutral sphingomyelinase 2/ceramide. (A) Phosphorylation levels of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) were detected in the rat hippocampus after post-ischemia-reperfusion (post-I/R) of different durations (0.5 h, 1 h and 6 h). After A2B adenosine receptor inhibitor MRS-1754 or its solvent was injected into the lateral ventricle, 30-min post-I/R followed. (B) Protein expression and activity levels of neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2) and (C) phosphorylation levels of p38MAPK in the rat hippocampus were detected in the different groups. (D) Content of ceramide in the rat hippocampus was determined using immunohistochemistry in MRS-1754 and its solvent groups. Data representat the means ± SEM of at least four separate experiments (n = 4). *P < 0.05 vs. sham control. #P < 0.05 vs. ischemia solvent control.