Figure 1.

VSC2 down-regulates NO production in activated microglia that correlates with Nrf2 activity. (A) Chemical structures of VSC2, VSC3 and VSC4; (B) BV-2 cells were exposed to various concentrations of vinyl sulfones and 0.2 μg mL⁻¹ LPS. After 24 h, the NO in the cell culture medium was measured. Curcumin was used as a positive control compound. The data are expressed as % of LPS-induced increase ± SEM and % of LPS-treated ± SEM; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 versus LPS-treated. (C) BV-2 cells were exposed to 20 μM of various vinyl sulfones (listed in Table 1) and 0.2 μg·mL⁻¹ LPS. After 24 h, NO in the cell culture medium was measured. % of LPS-treated was plotted against degrees of HO-1 induction, and the best-fit line was generated by Sigma Plot software.