Fig. 8

Role of COX-2 during the effects of nicotine on IL-6 release from activated human astrocytes. a Inhibition of cyclooxygenase 2 activity by using NS-398 (1 and 10 μM) reversed the effects of nicotine on IL-6 release from activated human astrocytes. The COX-2 inhibitor failed to affect IL-1β-induced IL-6 production on its own. b Cell culture supernatants were analyzed for prostaglandin profiling using LC-MS/MS. IL-1β induced high levels of PGE₂ production that further increased with nicotine treatment. PGE₂ synthesis was completely blocked in the presence of NS-398 at both concentrations. Samples were run as duplicates, and values are represented as mean ± SEM of (a) five and (b) three independent experiments. Data is presented in terms of fold change compared to cytokine levels following IL-1β treatment. Statistical analyses was performed using Students t test and one-way ANOVA (*p < 0.05)