Figure 2.
High and Low Cortisol Treatment Effects on mRNA in Unstimulated and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated Monocytes. After each of 3 in vivo treatments, monocytes were isolated from peripheral blood on day 3 (sample 5) and incubated for 3 h in either media alone or media supplemented with 1 ng/mL LPS. Messenger RNA levels were then determined for the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), CD163, interluekin-10 (IL-10) and Suppressor of Cytokine Synthesis-3 (SOCS3) as described in materials and methods section. GR mRNA levels (A) were increased significantly by in vivo Low Cortisol and decreased by in vivo High Cortisol treatment under both conditions. CD163 mRNA (B) was significantly increased by High Cortisol treatment. IL-10 mRNA (C) increased significantly in LPS-stimulated monocytes after High Cortisol treatment and decreased after Low Cortisol treatment. Finally, SOCS3 mRNA levels (D) were decreased in unstimulated cells after High Cortisol treatment and increased significantly after Low Cortisol treatment in stimulated cells. *** = P < 0.001 versus control cells under similar conditions.