Fig 6. Inhibitory effect of the different sponge extracts on ERK 1/2 signalling pathway in astrocytes.
Primary astrocytes (1×105 cells/ml) were pre-treated for 2 h with the crude extracts from T. aurantium (10 μg/ml), H. perlevis (30 μg/ml), T. citrina (10 μg/ml), I. variabilis (60 μg/ml), A. aerophoba (10 μg/ml), C. nucula (10 μg/ml), and S. spinosulus (60 μg/ml) or with 10 μM of the ERK 1/2 inhibitor PD98059, then activated for 2 h with LPS (10 μg/ml). Untreated and unstimulated cells represent negative control (CTRL). Representative autoradiographic films of Western blotting analysis are reported in A and B. Histograms in C and D represent the results, after densitometric scanning of autoradiographic films, normalized as the ratio of phosphorylated to total ERK protein. Data represent means ± SD of three independent experiments. Asterisks represent values statistically different from positive control (LPS-activated astrocytes), which was set at 100% (one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey test; *p < 0.05).