Melatonin inhibits TLR4 mRNA and protein expression and caspase-3 activity in hypoxic BV-2 cells.

Abstract

<p>A. Hypoxia induces TLR4 mRNA expression in hypoxic microglia that is suppressed by melatonin. B. BV-2 cells subjected to hypoxia, followed by western blot analysis of TLR4 and cleaved caspase-3 with or without melatonin treatment. The panel shows specific bands of TLR4 (95 kDa), cleaved caspase-3 (17 kDa) and β-actin (43 kDa). Note TLR4 and cleaved caspase-3 expression in melatonin-treated group is significantly decreased in comparison with the untreated group (normalized with β-actin). The experiments have been repeated at least in triplicate. The statistical significance of differences between different groups was calculated using ANOVA. Significant difference between control vs hypoxia groups is shown as *<i>p</i><0.05 and **<i>p</i><0.01; significant difference between hypoxia vs hypoxia +Melatonin groups is shown as #<i>p</i><0.05 and ##<i>p</i><0.01. The values represent the mean ± SD in triplicate.</p