Fig. 5

Agomelatine reduces neuronal apoptosis within the DG region of LPS rats. A Q-PCR assays of mRNA expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase3 and Caspase9 within the DG region. Band intensities were normalized to GAPDH (N = 6 per group). B Western blot assays of protein expression levels of ERK, p-p38 and p-JNK within the DG region (N = 6 per group). C Representative images of cleaved-Caspase3 (red). Nuclei (blue) are stained with DAPI. Scale bar is 50 μm (N = 6 per group). D Representative images of DCX (red). Scale bar is 50 μm (N = 6 per group). E Representative images of Hoechst-33258 staining (Scale bar is 5 μm). F TEM showing morphological changes of nuclei (Scale bar is 2 μm) *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, LPS vs Control group; ^#P < 0.05, ^##P < 0.01, ^###P < 0.001, LPS vs LPS + AGO (AGO, Agomelatine). Data are presented as means SEMs