Table 4.
Western blot protein expression. The relative abundance of MMP-8, TIMP-2 and VEGF was evaluated densitometrically and expressed as the ratio relative to β-actin used as a loading control across all replicates as described in the Materials and Methods section.
| Dependent Variable | Sex | FB (mg/kg b.w.) | p-Value | p-Level | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 60 | 90 | Linear | Quadratic | |||
| MMP-8 | F | 1.096 ± 0.022 a | 1.303 ± 0.041 a | 0.886 ± 0.086 b | <0.001 | 0.103 | 0.235 |
| TIMP-2 | 0.655 ± 0.012 a,b | 0.803 ± 0.055 a | 0.486 ± 0.063 b | 0.001 | 0.116 | 0.366 | |
| VEGF | 0.992 ± 0.058 a | 1.077 ± 0.019 a,b | 1.148 ± 0.036 b | 0.005 | 0.002 | 0.010 | |
| MMP-8 | M | 1.070 ± 0.078 a | 1.110 ± 0.009 a | 0.783 ± 0.055 b | <0.001 | 0.067 | 0.455 |
| TIMP-2 | 1.053 ± 0.140 | 1.223 ± 0.085 | 0.860 ± 0.073 | 0.076 | 0.384 | 0.619 | |
| VEGF | 0.804 ± 0.028 a | 1.067 ± 0.049 b | 0.889 ± 0.051 a | 0.002 | 0.051 | 0.002 | |
Data are presented as mean ± SE with corresponding statistical analysis. FB—fumonisin, MMP-8—matrix metalloproteinase 8, TIMP-2—metalloproteinase inhibitor 2, VEGF—vascular endothelial growth factor A, F—female, M—male. Statistically significant differences between groups (at p-value < 0.05) are indicated by a and b.