Figure 3.

Effect of labor on the expression of inflammatory cytokines, leptin, and COX-2. Lysates from placentas delivered by CS or vaginally with short labor (<5 hours) or long labor (>15 hours) were immunoblotted and analyzed with anti-TNF-α, anti-IL-1β, anti-leptin, anti-COX-2, anti-phospho-IκB, and anti-IκB antibodies. All blots were reprobed with anti-β-actin to normalize gel loading, and normalized results (±SE) are plotted, expressing cesarean controls as 100%. Different letters indicate groups that are significantly different using the PLSD test with P < 0.05.