Lipopolysaccharide Induces Degradation of Connexin43 in Rat Astrocytes via the Ubiquitin-Proteasome Proteolytic Pathway
Figure 2
The JNK inhibitor SP600125 inhibits LPS-induced downregulation of Cx43 in astrocytes.
(A) Astrocytes were treated for 18 h with 0.05% DMSO (Cont), 2 µg/ml of LPS (LPS), 10 µM SP600125 (SP), or 5 µM BAY11-7082 (BAY) or were treated with SP600125 (LPS+SP) or BAY11-7082 (LPS+BAY) for 30 min prior to, and during, incubation with LPS for 18 h. Cell lysates were prepared and total proteins analyzed by 10% SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting using antibodies against total Cx43 or GAPDH (GAPDH, loading control). (B) The blots from 3 independent experiments were subjected to densitometric analyses for total Cx43 (P0 plus P1 plus P2) and the results expressed as the density of the bands in the test sample relative to those in the control. *P<0.01, NS (not significant) compared to the LPS-treated group using Dunnett’s post-hoc test.