Fig. 1.

NMDA receptor-dependent ERK activation requires superoxide. Quantitative western blot analysis of hippocampal area CA1 from slices exposed to 100 μm NMDA for 3 min, with and without 20 mm L-NAC (a and b), 121 U/mL SOD (c and d), and 100 μm MnTBAP (e and f). Upper panels (a, c, and e) are representative blots depicting changes in pp-ERK2 immunoreactivity (pp-ERK2) and total ERK immunoreactivity (ERK1 and ERK2). Lower panels (b, d, and f) illustrate quantification of pp-ERK2 immunoreactivity normalized to total ERK2. Data are expressed as percent of control (mean ± SEM). *Indicates statistical significance (p < 0.05) determined by one-way anova with a Newman–Keuls multiple comparison test (b, d: n = 4; f: n = 5). Please note that in panel (e) the western blot image was adjusted by repositioning the NMDA + MnTBAP bands with Adobe Photoshop (Adobe, Mountain View, CA, USA). This was done for presentation purposes only. All of the bands shown came from the same membrane, and all densitometric analyses were done on bands from the same membranes.