Figure 4.

Participation of ROS in the proinflammatory effects induced by Amadori adducts in HPMCs. (a) Transient transfection experiments were performed to measure NF-κB-dependent transcription activity after 12 h exposure to HHb (10 nM) or gBSA (0.25 mg ml⁻¹) either alone or co-incubated with superoxide dismutase (SOD 200 U ml⁻¹), Tempol (Temp, 100 μM) or dimethylthiourea (DMTU, 1 mM), n=18. Under the same conditions, human iNOS and −327/+59 human COX-2 (b), as well as human IL-6 (d) promoters luciferase-based reporter activities were assessed by transient transfection assays, n=18. (c) A representative immunoblot for iNOS and COX-2 protein is shown after 12 h exposure of HPMCs to HHb either alone or in combination with Tempol at the above-described concentrations, n=9. ^*P⩽0.05 vs basal. ^**P⩽0.05 vs the correspondent Amadori (gBSA or HHb)-treated cells.