Figure 1.

Effects of probucol on NO and PGE₂ production, iNOS mRNA and COX-2 mRNA expression in LPS-stimulated microglial cells. BV2 microglia were treated with the indicated concentrations of probucol (1 or 5 μmol/L) for 3 h prior to LPS (1 μg/mL) treatment. (A) The levels of NO and PGE₂ in the media were measured using Griess reagent and ELISA, respectively, 6 h after LPS treatment (n=4). (B) The iNOS and COX-2 protein levels were determined 6 h after LPS stimulation. Actin was used as an internal control for the Western blotting analyses. (C and D) iNOS and COX-2 mRNA levels were determined 6 h after LPS stimulation. GAPDH was used as an internal control for the (C) real-time PCR and (D) RT-PCR assays (n=4). The images are representative of those obtained from four independent experiments. (E) Primary microglia isolated from the neonatal mouse brains were treated with the indicated concentrations of probucol (1, 5, or 10 μmol/L) for 3 h prior to LPS (10 ng/mL) treatment. The iNOS and COX-2 mRNA levels were determined (n=5). The results are expressed as the mean±SEM. ^*P<0.05, ^**P<0.01 vs cells without LPS; ^#P<0.05 and ^##P<0.01 vs cells treated with LPS in the absence of probucol.