Figure 4.

Alpha 7 nicotinic receptors mediate the inhibitory effects of carbachol 0.2 mmol/L on the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and JNK in endothelial cells induced by TNF-α 500 ng/mL. (A) The levels of phosphor-ERK1/2 and JNK were assessed by Western blot using protein lysates extracted from cells exposed to carbachol followed by TNF-α in the presence or the absence of α-bungarotoxin 3 μg/mL. β-Actin was used as a normalization control. (B) Integrated optical density (IOD) of ERK1/2 and JNK levels was analyzed by Image-Pro Plus software. IOD=area×average density. ^cP<0.01 vs control, ^fP<0.01 vs TNF-α group, ⁱP<0.01 vs carbachol+TNF-α group.