Figure 6. Effects of PDE III inhibition on IκB-α degradation, and nuclear NF-κB p65.

By Western Blot analysis, a basal level of IκB-α was detected in the spinal cord from sham-operated animals, whereas IκB-α levels were substantially reduced in SCI mice. Olprinone treatment (0,2 mg/kg, 1 and 6 h after SCI induction) prevented the SCI-induced IκB-α degradation (A). In addition, SCI caused a significant increase in nuclear NF-κB p65 compared to the sham-operated mice (B). Olprinone treatment significantly reduced NF-κB p65 expression as shown in B. α-tubulin and lamin A/C were used as internal control for cytosolic and nuclear extract, respectively. A representative blot of lysates obtained from each group is shown. The relative expression of the protein bands from three separated experiments was standardized for densitometric analysis to housekeeping genes.