Figure 1.

Effect of ME on activity of β-hexosaminidase and level of TNF-α, IL-4 released in IgE-activated RBL-2H3 cells. RBL-2H3 cells were seeded on a 24-well plate in DMEM with 10% FBS at 37°C overnight, and then the cells were washed and further incubated with DNP-IgE for 24 h. The cells were incubated with ME (0–100 μM) for 1 h and then stimulated by DNP-BSA (100 ng/mL) for 4 h. β-Hexosaminidase activity (a) and TNF-α level (b) and IL-4 level (c) were determined as described in Section 2. RBL-2H3 cells were seeded on a 96-well plate (2.5 × 10⁴ cells/well) in DMEM with 10% FBS at 37°C overnight, and then the cells were washed and further incubated with DNP-IgE for 24 h. The cells were incubated with ME (0–100 μM) for 1 h, simultaneously treated with DNP-BSA (100 ng/mL) and WST-1 reagent (10 μL), and then incubated for 4 h. Cell viability (d) was determined as described in Section 2. Data represent the mean ± SD of three independent experiments and differences between mean values were assessed by one-way ANOVA. ^* P < 0.05, ^** P < 0.01 indicate significant differences compared with the DNP-BSA-treated group.