Figure 4.

The role of Erk1/2 and p38 MAPK in heat stress-induced cell death in PDMM and mesothelial cells. (a) Cell were pre-incubated with 5 or 10 nM of Erk1 MAPK small inhibitory (si)RNA and then exposed to various temperatures (39–42°C) for 20 minutes. Following cells were kept under normal growth conditions for 48 hours and viable cells were counted by trypan blue exclusion staining. (b) Cells were preincubated with 5 or 10 nM of p38 MAPK siRNA as described above (a) and viable cells were counted after trypan blue exclusion staining. Data points represent the mean ± S.E.M. of triplicate experiments. ∗ indicates P < .01 (student's paired t-test, two-tailed).