Figure 2.

Estrogen upregulates Bcl-w and downregulates Bim expression. A, E2 induces a time-dependent increase of bcl-w and decrease of bim. Neuron cultures were treated with 10 nm E2 for 6–72 h, and mRNA expression levels of Bcl-2 family members (bcl-2, bcl-x, bcl-w, bax, bak, bad, bik, bnip3, bid, and bim) were detected by RT-PCR, followed by agarose gel electrophoresis. β-actin served as an internal control. B, Representative Western blots show E2 regulation of Bcl-w (top panel) and Bim (middle panel) protein levels; β-tubulin (bottom panel) was used as an internal control. C, D, Relative amounts of Bcl-w (C) and Bim (D) protein levels were determined by densitometric scanning of Western blots from three to five independent experiments. Data are represented as a mean (+SEM) percentage of control values. *p < 0.01 relative to vehicle-treated control group (Ctrl).