Figure 2.

Effect of non-ionic and ionic linear and macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents (GdBCA) on the expression levels of various chemokine genes in normal human monocytes. Values represent the mean (± standard deviation) expression levels of three replicates of three separate experiments with monocytes obtained from three different normal individuals exposed to the Gd compounds for 12 h. Cycle threshold [C(t)] values for chemokines were normalized with β-actin. The saline control levels were set arbitrarily at 100% expression at each time-point. Values for other samples are expressed relative to the saline control. Expression levels of (a) CCL2, (b) CCL8, (c) CXCL9, (d) CXCL10, (e) CXCL11 and (f) CXCL12 transcripts are displayed. Statistical significance of changes in chemokine expression as determined by Student's t-test comparing each Gd compound to the saline control appears above the corresponding bar. *P < 0·05; **P < 0·01; ***P < 0·001. Caldiamide did not induce a significant effect for any chemokine.