Fig. 2

Beneficial effects of anthocyanins on glutamate-induced excitotoxicity in the developing rodent brain. a The immunoblots of AMPAR, p-AMPK, p-AMPA, and CaMKII proteins along with their relative density histograms in the experimental groups. β-Actin was used as a loading control. b The immunostaining images and respective relative IOD histogram of p-AMPK protein in the CA1 region of young rats that were treated with glutamate with or without anthocyanins. The images show p-AMPK (green) and DAPI (blue) color. c The Western blot results of Nrf2 and HO-1 proteins in the brain homogenates of P7 rats. The significant differences among the different treated groups are indicated by relative density histograms. The bands were quantified with sigma gel software and density histograms (expressed in arbitrary units, i.e., A.U.) relative to control were made with Prism GraphPad. d The immunofluorescence investigation of Nrf2 in the CA1 section of developing rats after glutamate and anthocyanin administration. The tissues were post-fixed in 4 % paraformaldehyde and 20 % sucrose solution for 72 h. The immunofluorescence staining techniques are given in the “Methods” section. e The histogram indicates the relative ROS contents in the different experimental groups. CA1 rat brain homogenates were prepared according to the protocol of the ROS assay, as cited in the manuscript. The assay was repeated for three times with the same results. Significance, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 and ^## P < 0.01 and ^### P < 0.001, respectively