Fig. 3.

Expression pattern of prosurvival signaling kinases such as (i) STATs (1α and 3), and NF-κB in cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions (ii) ERK1/2, Akt, ELK1, and Bcl-2 in whole cell lysates of hepatocytes of M. cephalus inhabiting control and pollutant-stressed estuaries. Their representative immunoblots are shown. For STATs and NF-κB, the bar graph shows the densitometric evaluation. The lanes on the blot correspond with the bars on the histogram. Band intensities of STATs and NF-κB protein were quantified and expressed as percentage (100%) of control hepatocytes. Values are expressed as means ± SD (n=5 fish per estuary). *p<0.05, significant when compared with control hepatocytes. For ERK1/2, Akt, ELK1, and Bcl-2, β-actin has been used as the loading control. The table represents the relative levels of the protein determined by densitometric evaluation. Data are expressed as means ± SE (n=16 fish per estuary). *p<0.05, significant; NS – statistically not significant, when compared with control hepatocytes