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Fig. 3 | Journal of Neuroinflammation

Fig. 3

From: The impact of metallothionein-II on microglial response to tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and downstream effects on neuronal regeneration

Fig. 3

Metallothionein II (MT) alter the TNFα-treated microglia response via LRP1 receptors in microglia and neuron co-culture model. Immunohistochemistry labelling using antibodies against LRP1 and LRP2 demonstrated that cultured microglia express LRP1 but not LRP2 receptors (a and b). c shows the Western blot performed on the protein extracted from microglia culture receiving 10 nM siRNA or no siRNA. In comparison to the no siRNA control, there is a decrease in the expression of LRP1 (both 100kD and 70kD band). The brain extract from rat cortex was also used as an internal positive control for this western blot. d shows the quantitative results from the microglia-neuron co-culture with the treatment of siRNA against LRP1 added to the microglia in conjunction with the treatments (TNFα or TNFα + MT). Similar to the result shown previously, in cultures not receiving the siRNA, the neurite length was higher in the microglia pre-treated with MT and TNFα when compare to the treatment with TNFα. The addition of siRNA against LRP1 in the TNFα-treated microglia did not led to significant changes in the neurite length when compared to the TNFα treatment without the siRNA. In contrast, the addition of siRNA against LRP1 did not significantly increase the neurite length. (Scale bar at Figure A = 25 μm) (*p < 0.05 compared to other treatment; n = 4 experimental cultures per treatment group, ANOVA; error bars = standard errors of the mean neurite length)

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