Fig. 4

CARS activates microglia and the TLR2/MyD88 pathway in vitro. a Representative images of adherent BV-2 cells stained with hematoxylin in the vehicle and CARS treatment groups. BV-2 cells were treated with CARS (100 μg/ml) for 12 h. Magnifications of the yellow boxes are shown in the lower panels. b Quantification of BV-2 cell density in the vehicle and CARS treatment (100 μg/ml, 12 h) groups. c–f Representative western blotting images (c–e) and quantification (f) of IL-6, IL-1β, IL-10, TLR2, TNF-α, p-NF-κB, and MyD88 protein levels in the BV-2 cells treated with CARS (10 μg/ml) for 24 h. g–i Representative western blotting images (g and h) and quantification (i) of p-AKT, p-JNK, p-ERK and p-P38 protein levels in BV-2 cells treated with CARS (10 μg/ml) for 24 h. Data are shown as mean ± SEM; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001