Fig. 3.

Real-time RT-PCR analyses of the temporal expression of proinflammatory cytokine mRNA in mouse lumbar spinal cord. Total mRNA was isolated from L5 lumbar spinal cord tissue of normal, uninjured mice (N) (n = 3 per strain), TLR4 KO mice (n = 4), and wild-type mice (n = 4) subjected to L5 nerve transection surgery at days 3, 7, and 14 for INF-γ (a), IL-1β (b) and TNF-α (c). The level of gene expression was calculated after normalizing against GAPDH in each sample and is presented as relative mRNA expression units. Values are mean ± SEM. (***, P < 0.001 vs. KO; *, P < 0.05 vs. KO; two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test.)