Fig. 3.

Effect of alagebrium on phosphorylation of ERK and mRNA level of COX-2. A: MAPK activation was seen within 30 minutes following 50 µg/mL of AGEs. Alagebrium significantly inhibited expression of COX-2 mRNA in AGE-stimulated RASMCs. B: these signaling activations were significantly inhibited by pretreatment with 1 and 10 µM of alagebrium (^*p<0.05 vs. AGE-treated group). ERK: extracellular signal-regulated kinase, COX-2: cyclooxygenase-2, mRNA: messenger ribonucleic acid, MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinase, AGE: advanced glycation end-product, RASMCs: rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells.