Fig. 9

Expression of nitric oxide synthases in primary rat brain endothelial cells. a Expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS/NOS1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS/NOS2) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS/NOS3) mRNA in primary rat brain endothelial cells treated with 100 µM kainate (KA) alone and with dexamethasone (KA + DXM, 1 µM) for 24 h. Control groups (C) received only culture medium. The predicted length of the products is shown in Additional file 1: Table S2. Fragments were visualized on 2% agarose gel. M: 1 Kb Plus DNA ladder. b Relative gene expression changes of nitric oxide synthases measured by qPCR. Fold change is the expression ratio compared to untreated control groups, where negative values mean target gene downregulation, positive values mean target gene upregulation. Mean ± SEM, n = 4, ANOVA, Bonferroni test, *p < 0.05 compared to the control group; ^#p < 0.05 compared to the kainate-treated group