Fig. 7

RRMS sera stimulate ROS production in ECs of BBB. a ECs were preloaded with 2 μM Mitosox red, then incubated for 2 h at 37 °C, fluorescence measured every 5 min and rate of fluorescence increase determined. ECs were either untreated (EBM-2MV medium only), stimulated with 2.5 μM rotenone (mitochondrial complex I inhibitor; positive control), or treated with 20% human serum in EBM-2MV medium. Data are mean ± s.e.m., n = 7 for untreated and rotenone, n = 10 for HC or RRMS samples. Data analysed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD post hoc test. p = 0.014 RRMS vs HD, p = 0.011 vs untreated. b NO production in hCMEC/D3 cells treated overnight with 20% serum from RRMS naïve-to-treatment or HD, determined by Griess assay. Data are expressed as mean + s.e.m. of duplicates, one representative from three independent experiments (n = 5-8 donors/group), (Mann-Whitney U test (two-tails)*P ≤ 0.05