Fig. 4.

Akt silencing with siRNA diminishes the induction of iNOS and cytokines, and inhibits NF-κB activity. (A and B) BMMΦ from 4-week-old C57BL/6J mice were transfected with siRNA for Akt or control siRNA and subsequently stimulated with P. gingivalis for 4 h; Total protein and RNA were extracted from cells and subjected to Western blot (A) and real time RT-PCR (B). (C and D) HEK293 cells were first transfected with siRNA for Akt or control siRNA, then transfected with NF-κB luciferase reporter along with a human TLR2 expression vector; After 4 h, cells were infected with P. gingivalis and incubated overnight. Cell lysates were harvested and subjected to Western blot (C) and luciferase assay (D). Each result represents 3 independent experiments. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3; *P < 0.05).