FIG. 3.

Effects of inhibiting GSK-3β on TNF-α production and iNOS/NO biosynthesis in heat-inactivated S. aureus-stimulated microglia. BV-2 mouse microglial cells or primary rat microglia-enriched cultures (3 × 10⁴) were pretreated with GSK-3β inhibitors BIO (10 μM) or LiCl (10 mM) for 0.5 h and then treated with heat-inactivated S. aureus (3 × 10⁵). For the indicated time periods of treatment, ELISA was used to determine TNF-α production (A). Twenty-four hours posttreatment, we determined NO production and iNOS expression, using Griess reagent and Western blot analysis, respectively (B). β-Actin was the internal control. Data shown are representative of the results for three individual experiments. For ELISA and nitrite assay, the data are means ± SD obtained from three individual cultures. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001, compared with S. aureus alone.