Figure 4.

Effects of the anti-pro-BDNF antibody on the expression of p75^NTR and sortilin and apoptosis-related proteins. (a) Representative immunofluorescent images of pro-BDNF (red, first column), p-JNK (green, second column), BDNF (red, fourth column), JNK (green, fifth column), sortilin (red, seventh column), and p75^NTR (green, eighth column) in groups control, H/R, H/R + anti-pro-BDNF, and H/R + vehicle. (b–e) Representative Western blots and quantitative analysis of pro-BDNF, BDNF (b), p75^NTR, sortilin (c), JNK, p-JNK (d), caspase 3 and cleaved-caspase 3 expression (e) in response to different treatments. All the data were normalized to β-actin, and fold changes are expressed in relation to the control group. Exposure of MMECs to H/R resulted in significantly higher expression levels of pro-BDNF, p75^NTR, and sortilin and in activation of JNK and caspase 3 as compared with MMECs maintained under normal conditions (control). Nonetheless, there were no significant differences in BDNF, JNK, and caspase 3 expression levels after H/R. Treatment with the anti-pro-BDNF antibody significantly reversed the increase in the protein expression of pro-BDNF, p75^NTR, sortilin, p-JNK, and cleaved caspase 3 in MMECs after exposure to HG and H/R (H/R + anti-pro-BDNF). The data were subjected to one-way ANOVA. The error bars represent SEM. ^∗P < 0.05 as compared with the control group; ^#P < 0.05 as compared with the H/R or H/R + vehicle group.