Journal: Frontiers in Microbiology
Article Title: Heme Oxygenase-1 Induction in Human BeWo Trophoblast Cells Decreases Toxoplasma gondii Proliferation in Association With the Upregulation of p38 MAPK Phosphorylation and IL-6 Production
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.659028
Figure Lengend Snippet: Influence of HO-1 induction on p38 MAPK activation in BeWo cells under T. gondii infection. (A,B) BeWo (1 × 10 6 cells/2,000 μl/well) cells were cultured in six-well plate during 24 h, infected with T. gondii (1:1) or not (control) for 3 h, treated with hemin (80 μM) or not (NaOH at 0.08% as vehicle) during 24 h, and submitted to western blotting assays for detection of phosphorylated p38 MAPK and β-actin. Protein bands were photodocumented, and densitometric analysis was performed by the ratio among phosphorylated p38 MAPK ( p -p38 MAPK) and its corresponding β-actin (endogenous control). (A) Representative blots for p -p38 MAPK and β-actin in the non-infected (NI) or infected ( T. gondii ) and hemin-treated or not (vehicle) BeWo cells. (B) Densitometric analysis for p -p38 MAPK. (C) BeWo (3 × 10 4 cells/200 μl/well) cells were cultured in 96-well plate during 24 h, pretreated with 10 μM of SB203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor) or not (control) for 3 h, infected with T. gondii (1:1) for 3 h, and treated with hemin (80 μM) or not (control) during 24 h, and the T. gondii intracellular proliferation was analyzed by the β-galactosidase assay. The data were shown as number of tachyzoites (× 10 3 ). For both assays, the results were expressed as mean ± SEM from two or three independent experiments performed in six or eight replicates. Significant differences were statistically assessed by the Mann-Whitney test (B) or by one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s posttest (C) ; * P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01; *** P < 0.001; **** P < 0.0001.
Article Snippet: Then, the membranes were blocked for 1 h with blotting buffer (25 mM Tris-HCl, 150 mM NaCl, 0.1% ( v / v ) Tween 20, and pH 7.4) added with 4% non-fat dry milk (Molico, Nestlé ® , São Paulo, SP, Brazil) and incubated, overnight, with the following primary antibodies diluted in a blotting buffer with 2% non-fat dry milk: goat polyclonal anti-human-HO-1 (1:1,000; Santa Cruz Biotechnology Cat# sc-1797, Santa Cruz, CA, United States), rabbit polyclonal anti-human-phospho-p38 MAPK (T 180 /Y 182 ) (1:400; R&D Systems Cat# AF869, Minneapolis, MN, United States), or mouse monoclonal anti-human-β-actin (1:1,000; Santa Cruz Biotechnology Cat# sc-81178).
Techniques: Activation Assay, Infection, Cell Culture, Control, Western Blot, MANN-WHITNEY