Effects of curcumin and AhR in astrocytes under inflammation. (A,B) Primary cultured rat astrocytes were treated with 1 µg/mL LPS with or without 1 µM curcumin (Cur) for 12 h. The mRNA expressions of IL-6 (A) and TNF-α (B) were analyzed by qPCR. Note that curcumin alleviated the LPS-induced inflammatory response in astrocytes. (C,D) Primary cultured astrocytes were transfected with AhR siRNA (siAhR) or scrambled RNA (as the control) for 48 h, followed by 1 µg/mL LPS treatment for 12 h. qPCR analysis of AhR mRNA expression indicated the knockdown efficiency of siAhR (C). Quantitative RT-PCR of TNF-α mRNA expression shown in (D). n = 3. Note that knockdown of AhR expression aggravated the inflammatory response of astrocytes under LPS stimuli. Statistical differences were analyzed using unpaired t-test and are represented as ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 compared with the individual control group and ##
p < 0.01, ###
p < 0.001 compared with the indicated group using the unpaired t-test.