Fig. 4.

Effects of HCA on NF-κB pathway mediated via IκBα. ELISA with embedded Western blot demonstrating that HCA prevents the stretch-induced decrement in cytoplasmic concentrations of the NF-κB inhibitor IκBα (a). Direct overexpression of IκBα attenuates the deleterious effects of stretch in normocapnia-exposed epithelial layers, decreasing NF-κB activation (b), reducing epithelial LDH leakage (c) and preserving cell viability (d). HCA did further reduce medium LDH but had no effect on NF-κB or on cell viability, in the presence of prior IκBα overexpression. Note: *P < 0.05 versus normocapnia-empty vector, ^† P < 0.05 versus normocapnia-IκBα-SR. Abbreviations: Normocapnia-Sham unstretched cells with normocapnia, Normocapnia-Stretch high cyclical stretch with normocapnia, HCA-Sham unstretched cells with normocapnia, HCA-Stretch high cyclical stretch with hypercapnia