Figure 5.
Primary HBECs under TNF-alpha (50 ng/mL) stimuli in the presence or absence of either methylprednisone (10−5 M) or hydrocortisone (10−10 M) in 24-h treatment. (A) Expression of MMP-2 and (B) MMP-9 in the absence of theophylline. (C) Expression of MMP-2 and (D) MMP-9 in the presence of theophylline (10−5 M). Protein levels were determined by Western blot analysis.
Notes: The gray level of every band was measured to check the difference in the protein expressions in HBECs by ImageJ software. Data are mean ± standard error of the mean of three experiments. **P<0.01 TNF-alpha vs control. #P<0.01 (TNF-alpha with corticosteroids vs TNF-alpha without corticosteroids).
Abbreviations: HBECs, human bronchial epithelial cells; MMP, matrix metalloproteases; TNF, tumor necrosis factor.