Figure 5.

Inflammatory and apoptosis study. Increased tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and caspase 3 protein expression was seen in the DEX group compared with that in the vehicle group and TNF-α, not caspase 3, decreased in the DEX+MEL group (a,b). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed interleukin (IL)-6 and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) levels were increased in the DEX group compared with that in the vehicle group and decreased in the DEX+MEL group (c,d). All the results represent the standard error of mean (SEM) of six animals; * p < 0.05 when comparing with the DEX group. The letters above each represented different groups with DEX representing the prenatal dexamethasone; DEX+MEL, melatonin treatment after prenatal dexamethasone.