Fig. 6

hIgG (2 g/kg) modulates serum cytokine expression and binds to vascular cell adhesion molecule-1. a At 24 h post-SCI, hIgG (2 g/kg) significantly increased the splenic weight, while MPSS (0.03 g/kg) decreased the weight. b hIgG (2 g/kg) enhanced the serum protein cytokine expression of numerous pro-inflammatory cytokines: IL-8, MIP-1α, CCL-2/MCP-1, and IL-5. VEGF was also upregulated. However, opposite to hIgG (2 g/kg), MPSS (0.03 g/kg) decreased the expression of these inflammatory cytokines and growth factor. c Representative confocal images (× 120) demonstrate that hIgG co-localizes with the spinal cord VCAM-1, with hIgG (red), blood vessels (LEA, green), and VCAM-1 (bright blue). Co-localization is indicated by white arrows. d A representative western blot of the spinal cord protein expression of VCAM-1 at 24 h post-SCI. e Densitometric analysis of the signal ratio between VCAM-1 and β-actin indicated that administration of high-dose hIgG (2 g/kg) at 15 min post-SCI failed to decrease VCAM-1 protein expression relative to the control buffer and hIgG (0.4 g/kg). One-way ANOVA, Tukey’s post-hoc test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001). Data are presented as mean ± SEM values