Figure 5

Effect of lipopolysaccharide and stress on expression of tumour necrosis factor α, interleukin 1β, interleukin 6 and inducible nitric oxide synthase mRNAs in substantia nigra. mRNA expression was quantified by real-time RT-PCR. Stress had no effect in the vehicle-injected animals. As expected, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection increased the expression levels of mRNA. This induction was higher when LPS and stress were combined, whereas treatment with RU486 (mifepristone (11β-[p-(dimethylamino)phenyl]-17β-hydroxy-17-(1-propynyl)estra-4,9-dien-3-one)) prevented this effect. Results are mean ± SD of at least three independent experiments expressed as percentage of control values. Statistical significance was calculated by one-way analysis of variance followed by the least significant difference post hoc test for multiple range comparisons a, compared with vehicle (V); b, compared with stress (S); c, compared with lipopolysaccharide (L); d, compared with stress + lipopolysaccharide (SL). SLR, Lipopolysaccharide injected into stressed animals treated with RU486 (mifepristone (11β-[p-(dimethylamino)phenyl]-17β-hydroxy-17-(1-propynyl)estra-4,9-dien-3-one)). (A) Tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α), P < 0.001. (B) Interleukin 1β (IL-1β), P < 0.001. (C) Interleukin 6 (IL-6), P < 0.01. (D) Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), P < 0.01.