Oxidant-response gene-expression is unaffected by treatment with 30 nM MeHg and increases subtly with 300 nM. Levels of mRNA transcripts were assessed by qRT2PCR in NPCs pretreated for 5 h with 0, 30, or 300 nM MeHg with or without subsequent stimulation with CNTF (20 ng/mL) or vehicle for 12 h. Expression levels were normalized to beta-actin expression and expressed in fold-change from vehicle treated samples that were not exposed to CNTF. 300 nM MeHg increased HO-1 expression 2.1 and 2.6 –fold in control and CNTF-treated conditions, respectively. HSPA5 was significantly increased 1.9–fold when cells were treated with 300 nM in the absence of CNTF. Sirt1 expression was not changed under any of the conditions tested. Data are +/- SEM n=5. * = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01, *** = p < 0.001 significantly different from positive control by ANOVA and post hoc Bonferroni's test.