Fig. 3.

KRG inhibits ROS production and ERK signaling and increases cell survival during Δpep27 immunization. Mice (n = 3) were orally administered KRG for 15 days and immunized with 1 × 10⁷–1 × 10⁸ CFU Δpep27, before being infected with 1 × 10⁸ CFU D39. (A) Twenty-four hours later, intracellular ROS levels were measured from lung lysate. (B) Twenty-four hours later, immunoblotting was performed to detect expression of iNOS, p-ERK, and casp-3 (caspase-3). (C) Expression of the cell survival factor AKT and the antiapoptotic proteins Bcl-xL and Bcl2 was detected by western blotting. (D) Relative immunoblot band densities were quantified using ImageJ. (E) Relative immunoblot band densities were quantified using ImageJ. All the experiments shown were conducted at least three times, and statistically significant differences were identified by one-way ANOVA (with Bonferroni's multiple comparison test) (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001).

ANOVA, analysis of variance; ERK, extracellular signal–regulated kinase; iNOS, inducible nitric oxide synthase; KRG, Korean Red Ginseng; ROS, reactive oxygen species; DCF, 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein.