Fig. 4.

Effect of nicotinamide or saline on PARP-1 activity in mesencephalon of asphyxia-exposed and control rats. Caesarean-delivered control (CS) and asphyxia-exposed (AS) rats were treated 1 h after birth with a single dose of Nam (0.8 mmol/kg, i.p.) (CNam, ANam) or saline (0.1 ml, i.p.) (CSal, ASal), and euthanized 2 h after delivery. Brain tissue sampled and treated for Western blots. pADPr and PARP-1 protein levels were measured in total protein extracts. PARP-1 activity was estimated as the pADPr/PARP-1 ratio. a Representative immunoblots for pADPr, PARP-1 and β-actin levels; b pADPr levels (expressed as arbitrary units, A.U.); c PARP-1 levels (normalized to β-actin, A.U.); d PARP-1 activity (pADPr/PARP-1 ratio) (CSal open columns, CNam dashed columns, ASal grey columns, ANam double dashed columns). Pair-wise comparisons analysed with Student t test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.005, ***p < 0.0005; n = 4–5, for each condition and experiment)