Fig. 2.

Comparison of poly I:C preparations. (a) Plasma concentration of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, IFNβ were determined using ELISA. (b): Transcription of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, IFNβ in hippocampal (HPC) tissue were determined using real time PCR. Experimental groups consisted of in C57BL/6J female adult mice 3 h post-treatment with saline (n = 3), 20 mg/kg Amersham poly I:C (n = 5), 20 mg/kg Sigma poly I:C (n = 5), 20 mg/kg HMW Invivogen poly I:C (n = 5) and LMW Invivogen poly I:C (n = 5). (c) 0.5% agarose gel showing approximate length of different preparations in base pairs (bp). S1, S2 represent 2 different batches of Sigma polyI:C; Am represents Amersham poly I:C; LMW: low molecular weight, HMW: high molecular weight. All data are represented as mean +/- SEM and were compared using one-way ANOVA, followed by Bonferroni post-hoc tests. For plasma cytokines, Bonferroni tests compared differences between Sigma poly I:C versus all other poly I:C groups, and differences are denoted by *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001. For hippocampal transcripts increases were smaller and more variable so Bonferroni tests were performed to compare different poly I:C treatments to saline-treated animals and differences are denoted by *p < 0.05.