Figure 4.

Berberine sulfate attenuated RANKL-stimulated NF-κB activity. (A) RAW264.7 cells stably transfected with an NF-κB transcriptional luciferase reporter construct, were pretreated with indicated concentration of berberine sulfate for 1 h and subsequently stimulated with RANKL (50 ng/mL) for an additional 6 h. The cells were harvested, and the luciferase activity was assayed. (n = 6). “−“ means RANKL untreated; “+” means RANKL treated. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 versus untreated control; (B) BMM cells were pretreated with serum-free culture medium for 3 h, and berberine sulfate (1 µM) for 1 h and then were incubated with RANKL (100 ng/mL) for indicated times. The levels of IκB-α were evaluated by Western blot analysis