Fig. 2

Effect of tunicamycin on the expression of UPR-related proteins in the hippocampus. a The expression levels of p-PERK, p-EIF2α, p-IRE1α, XBP1s, XBP1u, ATF4, and CHOP in the hippocampus of rats were detected by Western blotting using specific antibodies. Each blot is representative of three experiments. b Phosphorylated levels of PERK, EIF2α, and IRE1α were quantified and normalized to the corresponding total levels. c Expression of XBP1s and XBP1u was quantified and normalized to GAPDH expression. d Expression of ATF4 and CHOP was quantified and normalized to GAPDH expression. e, f Images acquired by confocal microscopy show the p-IRE1α and CHOP levels in the CA1 area of the hippocampus. The arrow in e points to an area in CA1 with high p-IRE1α immunoreactivity. The arrow in f points to an area in CA1 with high CHOP immunoreactivity. Scale bar, 200 μm. g, h Quantitative data of the mean intensities of p-IRE1α and CHOP fluorescence. Each value was expressed relative to that of the naïve group, which was set to 100 (n = 6). All experiments were repeated three times. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs. naïve group. The data are presented as the mean ± SEM