Fig. 1

Effects of MDD and antidepressant treatment on the expression of TLR-4 and its endogenous ligands Hsp60 and Hsp70. There were no differences in the protein expression of TLR-4 among controls and subjects with MDD (a, b). There were no statistical differences between groups in the protein expression values of Hsp60 (c, d). Subjects with MDD showed a significant 33% increase in the Hsp70 protein expression compared with controls (e). The statistical significance disappeared when the AD-free at death and the AD-treated groups were split, but both groups maintained a trend to show higher values than control group (f). The densitometric data of the band of interest were normalized by beta-actin. Some blots were cropped (black lines) for improving the clarity and conciseness of the presentation. Data are means ± SEM; *p < 0.05 vs. control; unpaired two-tailed t test was performed when comparing controls vs MDD. One-way ANOVA with a Fisher’s LSD post hoc test was used to compare between controls and AD-free and AD-treated MDD groups. See the “Chemicals and statistical analyses” section for more details