FIGURE 9.

Ciglitazone attenuates S. aureus- and PGN-induced proinflammatory mediator expression in microglia. Primary microglia were seeded in 96-well plates at 2 × 10⁵ cells per well and incubated overnight. The following day, cells were pretreated with the indicated doses of ciglitazone (final concentrations) or vehicle control (DMSO) for 1 h before stimulation with heat-inactivated S. aureus (10⁷ CFU/well) or PGN (10 µg/ml). At 24 h following bacterial stimulation, cell-free supernatants were collected and analyzed for IL-1β (A) and CXCL2 (B) expression. Microglial viability was assessed using a standard MTT assay, and the raw OD₅₇₀ readings are reported (C). Results are reported as mean ± SD of three independent wells for each experimental treatment. **, p < 0.001 significant differences between microglia exposed to S. aureus or PGN compared with unstimulated cells. #, p < 0.01; ##, p < 0.001 significant differences between microglia exposed to S. aureus or PGN only vs cells pretreated with the various concentrations of ciglitazone plus S. aureus or PGN. Results are representative of four independent experiments.