Fig 4.

Tricarballylic acid (TCA) inhibits monocyte inflammatory responses. (a,b) Human acute monocytic leukaemia cell line (THP-1) cells were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (2 h) following preincubation with varying concentrations of TCA to determine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α mRNA production in (a) normal calcium (0·4 mM) or (b) supplemental calcium (1·4 mM) media. (c,d) THP-1 cells were pretreated (0·5 h) with TCA (1·5 mM) alone, citrate (1 mM) alone, or co-incubated with citrate and TCA prior to LPS stimulation to determine TNF-α mRNA production (2 h) in (c) normal calcium (0·4 mM) or (d) supplemental calcium (1·4 mM) media. Data were normalized to the LPS-stimulated sample with no citrate or TCA (*P<0·05, n.s. = not significant).