Fig. 7.

Effects of nuclear receptor activators on the mRNA levels of select target genes in primary cultured mouse (A) and rat (B) hepatocytes. Primary mouse (A) and rat (B) hepatocytes were freshly isolated, plated onto six-well plates, and after 48 hours treated with Williams’ E medium either alone (CON) or containing DMSO (0.1%), the PPAR-activator, Cipro (100 μM), or one of the CAR activators, TCPOBOP (0.25 µM, mouse) or PB (100 μM, rats). Medium was replaced once after 24 hours, and 48 hours after the initial treatment, total RNA was extracted from hepatocytes and used to synthesize cDNA as described in the Materials and Methods. Relative changes in mRNA levels were determined using qRT-PCR. Each bar represents the normalized values (mean ± S.E.M.) from three to four hepatocyte preparations (two combined wells/treatment group/preparation). *Statistically significant compared with untreated (CON) hepatocytes (P < 0.05). †Statistically significant compared with DMSO-treated hepatocytes (P < 0.05).