Figure 5.

Increased Bmf protein expression following OGD in cortical neurons and transient focal cerebral ischemia in WT mice. (a and b) Western blotting and densitometric analysis comparing the levels of Bmf induction and Spectrin cleavage in cortical neurons, (a) confirming Bmf protein induction at 24 h and (b) demonstrating an increased accumulation of calpain/caspase-3-generated αII spectrin breakdown products (145/150 kDa) in OGD-treated cultures. Significant increases in Bmf protein induction and Spectrin cleavage were observed at 24 h compared with sham-treated cultures. Data presented as mean±S.E.M. from n=5 independent experiments from n=5 independent cultures carried out in triplicate. *P<0.05 compared with sham-treated controls. (c and d) Western blotting and densitometric analysis comparing levels of Bmf induction and Spectrin cleavage in the ipsilateral cortex 3 and 24 h following ischemia in WT mice, (c) confirming Bmf protein induction and (d) demonstrating an increased accumulation of αII spectrin breakdown products at 24 h reperfusion. Significant increases in Bmf protein induction and Spectrin cleavage were observed at 24 h compared with matched controls. Densitometry data are expressed as Bmf or as a ratio of the 145 kDa spectrin breakdown product (BP) and the 280 kDa full length (FL) protein normalized to β-actin. Data presented as mean±S.E.M. from n=4 per group. *P<0.05 compared with matched controls