Figure 4.

Levels of proinflammatory mediators in lung tissues. (A) IL-6 and (B) TNF-α levels in lungs as determined by ELISA. (C) Levels of IL-6, TNF-α and NF-κB p65 mRNA as determined by semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The expression levels of mRNA were measured by densitometry and normalized to GAPDH mRNA expression levels. Data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation. n=3 for TNF-α. n=5 for IL-6 and NF-κB p65. *P<0.05, **P<0.01. IL-6, interleukin-6; DEX, dexamethasone; MAT, matrine; LY, lycopene; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α.