Figure 3. Townes sickle cell mice have increased oxidative modifications in lipid and protein in hippocampus and cerebral cortex.

Box plots of respective variables indicate the variable’s median and first and third quartiles and the whiskers the 5^th and 95^th percentiles. A. In hippocampi of homozygous Townes mice, malondialdehyde formation, a surrogate measurement of lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress, there was higher malondialdehyde formation compared to controls (p<0.001) and heterozygous (p=0.024). Interestingly heterozygous Townes also had higher levels of malondialdehyde formation compared to controls (p=0.017). B. In cerebral cortex, homozygous Townes had higher malondialdehyde formation compared to controls (p=0.004) and heterozygotes (p=0.004). C and D. Protein carbonyl content (a measurement indicative of post translational oxidative modification producing protein-carbonyl adducts) varied by genotype and brain region (p=0.034 for genotype by region interaction, Figures 3C and 3D). Specifically, in cerebral cortex, but not in hippocampus (p=0.269, C), homozygotes had significantly higher protein carbonyls content compared to control mice (p<0.0001, D). N=4-8 mice per genotype.