Figure 5

Effects of altered glycaemia on oxidative stress pathways in BBB endothelial cells. Briefly, hCMEC/D3 cells were exposed to normal, hyper and hypoglycemic conditions for 3-24 h. (A) The expression and distribution of Nrf-2 (transcription factor involved in the cell’s anti-oxidative defense) was assessed by immunofluorescence and western blot analysis at 3 and 24 h. Images were captured at 40× (scale: 100 μm) and merged with DAPI. (B) Endothelial release of IL-6 following treatment at 3 and 24 h was quantified by ELISA. Data were expressed as mean ± S.E.M. (% control). β-tubulin was used as loading control. N = 3-5 samples/condition and replicated twice. Hypoglycemia down-regulates the endothelial release of PDGF-BB (C).