Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 7 pp 10326—10353

Figure 5. Carminic acid alleviates renal inflammation and ROS production via Nrf-2 signaling. (A) TCMK-1 cells were transfected with Nrf-2 siRNA for 24 h. Then, the transfection efficiency was measured using western blot analysis. (B–G) TCMK-1 cells were transfected with siNrf-2 for 24 h, followed by Fru (5 mM) treatment in the absence or presence of CA (20 μM) for another 24 h. Then, all cells were collected for the following analysis. (B) The mRNA expression levels of inflammatory factors were measured by RT-qPCR analysis. Western blot analysis of (C) cellular p-NF-κB, (D) nuclear NF-κB and (E) cellular p-JNK. (F) ROS production, MDA levels and SOD activities in cells were measured. (G) RT-qPCR analysis of genes related to oxidative stress. The results are expressed as the means ± SEM. n = 4 in each group. ^*P< 0.05, ^**P< 0.01 and ^***P< 0.001 compared with the Ctrl group; ⁺P< 0.05 and ⁺⁺P< 0.01 compared with the Fru group; ^ΔP< 0.05, ^ΔΔP< 0.01 and ^ΔΔΔP< 0.001 compared with the siNrf-2 group.