Fig. 1.

Inhibitory effects of Ae. aegypti cecropins on LPS-stimulated NO production in mouse peritoneal macrophages and human PBMCs. Mouse peritoneal macrophages or human PBMCs were incubated at 37 °C with E. coli LPS (100 ng/ml) in the presence or absence of 5 μM of each AeaeCec peptides or a mixture of five peptides (1 μM each) or vehicle (PBS) or 5 μM of cecropin-TY1 (CTY) and scrambled cecropin-TY1 (sCTY) as control peptide [25]. a Cells were harvested for determination of the transcription level of iNOS by qPCR after incubation for 6 h. b, c After incubation for 24 h, the culture supernatant of mouse peritoneal macrophages (b) or human PBMCs (c) were detected for the NO production (nitrite accumulation) using Griess reagent. Data are presented as mean ± SEM from three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01