Fig. 4. Effects of NLEs on cytokine expression.

RAW 264.7 cells were pre-treated with NLEs for 24 h and then stimulated with LPS (1 µg/ml) for 4 or 16 h. Total RNA and protein lysates were subjected to semi-quantitative RT-PCR and western blot analysis to analyze IL-1β (A), IL-6 (B), and TNF-α (C). The values are expressed as the mean ± SD of three individual experiments. Values not sharing the same superscript were significantly (P < 0.05) different. LPS, lipopolysaccharide; NLEE, Nelumbo leaf ethanol extract; NLWE, Nelumbo leaf water extract; IL, interleukin; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor alpha; GAPDH, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase.