Figure 5.

Effects of allicin on AOPP-induced MAPK pathway activation. (a) The human NP cells were pretreated with various concentrations of allicin (0, 5, 10, and 20 μM) for 2 h, followed by stimulation with 400 μg/ml AOPP for 24 h. The protein levels of ERK, phosphorylated ERK, p38, phosphorylated p38, JNK, and phosphorylated JNK were determined using Western blotting analysis. (b–d) Immunoblot bands corresponded to (b) p-ERK, (c) p-p38, and (d) p-JNK were quantified by densitometric analysis and normalized to their corresponding total kinase. Data were represented as mean ± SD. ^##p < 0.01 versus the control group; ^∗p < 0.05 and ^∗∗p < 0.01 versus the AOPP alone treatment group, n = 3.