FIG. 2.

TNF-α release and p38 MAP kinase activation in cultures of human macrophages infected with different M. avium strains. (A) Human MDM were infected with M. avium strains TMC724, 2151SmT, 2151SmO, and SE01 at an MOI of 10. Supernatants were harvested after 4 h. Cytokine concentrations were measured by ELISA. The values are means ± standard deviations for three independent experiments. ctrl., control. (B) Human MDM were incubated with M. avium strains TMC724, 2151SmT, 2151SmO, and SE01 at an MOI of 10 for 30 min. Cells were lysed, and aliquots of cell lysates were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotted onto nitrocellulose membranes. The membranes were incubated with specific anti-phospho-p38 antibodies, followed by a peroxidase-coupled secondary antibody. Visualization was performed by enhanced chemiluminescence. To control equal protein loading, the amounts of total p38 were detected in the same lysates. The results of one representative experiment of three independent experiments are shown.