Fig. 7

Inhibiting p38 alleviates the interference of SAA on astrocyte migration and polarization. U251 cells were incubated with SAA (1 μM) with or without a 15-min pre-treatment with SB203580 (10 μM), FR180204 (5 μM), SP600125 (5 μM), or LY294002 (5 μM). At 12 h and 16 h after incubation, the cell migration was examined by 48-well chemotaxis chambers (a) and scratch-wound assay (b), and the quantified data were shown in c and d. Magnification, × 400 and × 100, respectively. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM based on three independent experiments, each with three wells for each group or in triplicate. **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001 compared with the control (DMEM). ^#p < 0.05; ^###p < 0.001 compared with SAA treatment group. e To detect protrusion formation, U251 cells were incubated with SAA (1 μM) with or without a 3-h pre-treatment with SB203580 (10 μM). At 16 h after scratching, the cells were stained with anti-α-tubulin (microtubule) polyclonal antibody and Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated anti-rabbit IgG (green fluorescence). The cell nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar, 25 μm. The white dashed lines indicate the direction of the wound. The cells were scored as protruding when their protrusions were at least 4 times longer than wide. f The quantified data were shown. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM based on three independent experiments, each in triplicate. ***p < 0.001 compared with the control (DMEM). ^##p < 0.01 compared with SAA treatment group