Figure 1. Zinc pre-treatment facilitates the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated microglia.

After microglia had been treated with or without 30 and 60 μM ZnCl₂ for 2 h, followed by one washout with warmed Eagle’s minimum essential medium, they were stimulated with 1 ng/mL LPS. Levels of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) (a), interleukin-6 (IL-6) (b), and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) (c) were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The data are presented as the mean ± the standard error of the mean (n = 4). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001, ***p < 0.005 significantly different from the control group; ^#p < 0.05, significantly different from the group treated with LPS alone.