Fig. 5.

Effects of MS in the presence of pharmacological inhibitors of Akt (A) or ERK1/2 (B) phosphorylation. Western blot analyses are shown of phosphorylation levels of Akt and ERK1/2 in MS and C cells, in the presence or absence of inhibitors Akt-kinase inhibitor (KI) or U0126 (see materials and methods), at 8 and 24 h of treatment. Representative blots (duplicates per treatment) are displayed on the left, while quantification of relative phosphorylation (with respect to total Akt and ERK1/2 levels, respectively) are displayed on the right. In both cases, the effects of MS on Akt and ERK1/2 phosphorylation displayed in Fig. 4 were completely blocked by the respective inhibitors, while no adverse effects of Akt-KI on ERK1/2 phosphorylation or U0126 on Akt phosphorylation were observed. Values are means ± SE (N = 6 per treatment for each time point; two independent experiments were performed with N = 3 per treatment and time point each). *Significant differences between C and MS cells for each treatment at α = 0.05, as determined by Student's t-tests. ns, Nonsignificant.