Figure 2

Involvement of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)α in macrophage stimulation and phagocytosis of E. coli K1 by palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), fenofibrate and palmitic acid (PA). Macrophages were incubated with the PPARα antagonist GW6471 (1 μM) for 1 hour. After incubation, macrophages were either left unstimulated (treated with medium containing 0.01% DMSO) or stimulated with PEA (300 nM) (a), fenofibrate (20 μM) (b) or palmitic acid (PA) (0.25 mM) (c) for 1 hour (n ≥ 9 wells/group from two independent experiments). In each experiment, the number of bacteria ingested by the control group (DMSO) was considered to be 100%. Phagocytic rates are presented as the percentage of phagocytosis of the respective control group. Data are given as medians with interquartile ranges and were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s correction for repeated testing (***P < 0.001, *P < 0.05).