Fig. 7.

TMS treatment prevents the increase in ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK phosphorylation in rat aorta, heart, and kidney associated with DOCA-salt-induced hypertension. Representative Western blots show ERK1/2 (A) and p38 MAPK (B) phosphorylation (top) and protein expression of these kinases (bottom). Tissues were homogenized in lysis buffer, and after protein concentrations were measured, equal amounts of protein (30–60 μg) in each sample were subjected to SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis (materials and methods). The blots were probed with anti-phospho-ERK1/2 (p-ERK1/2) or anti-phospho-p38 MAPK (p-p38) antibodies and their corresponding nonphosphorylated antibodies. Density of the bands was analyzed using ImageJ 1.42 software and is expressed as the ratio of phosphorylated to nonphosphorylated ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK. Data are means ± SE (n = 3). *P < 0.05, UNX vs. DOCA-salt. †P < 0.05, DOCA-salt vs. DOCA-salt + TMS.