Figure 6.

TBI increases the p-NF-κB level and pioglitazone inhibits p-NF-κB protein expression in the TBI rat model. (A) qRT-PCR analysis of p-NF-κB gene expression in human brain tissue of TBI and normal group brain tissues (n = 25, triplicates per sample, *p < 0.05, t-test). (B) Western blot analysis of p-NF-κB protein expression in TBI and normal group brain tissues of human (n = 25, triplicates per sample). (C) Quantification of protein levels from immunoblots as in B. The protein levels of p-NF-κB were normalized to GAPDH (*p < 0.05, t-test). (D) Representative histologic sections of p-NF-κB staining. The brown color shows positively stained cells by the p-NF-κB antibody. (E) The IOD SUM of positive cells was compared between the TBI and normal groups of human brain tissue (n = 20, triplicates per group, *p < 0.05, t-test). (F) Representative immunofluorescence images of the surrounding cortex (red: p-NF-κB) on the third day after CCI (n = 6/group, scale bar, 100 μm). (G) Quantitative analysis of the fluorescence intensity from immunofluorescence as in F. Data were analyzed using an appropriate Student's t-test, one-way ANOVA, or two-way ANOVA followed by post hoc Tukey's analysis. Error bars, SEM.; *p < 0.05 means statistically significant differences, NS means no statistically significant differences. (H) Representative Western blotting images (n = 6, triplicates per group). (I) Quantification of protein levels from immunoblots as in H. The protein levels of p-NF-κB were normalized to GAPDH (n = 6/group, mean ± SD and asterisks indicate statistically significant differences between the two groups shown by horizontal line, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 by one-way ANOVA, NS means no statistically significant differences).