Figure 1

SERT expression is modulated by IL6 in-vitro and in-vivo.

(a) JAR cells (5 * 10⁵ cells) were incubated for 48 h either in the absence (control) or presence of IL6 (50 ng/ml). The activity of SERT was quantified by measuring specific cellular uptake of 0.1 μM [³H]5-HT (p = 0.0001; t₍₁₁₎ = 6.308; n = 9 per group). (b) Kinetic characterization of [³H]5-HT uptake in JAR cells: K_m values were 7.39 ± 2.24 μM (control) and 3.70 ± 1.46 μM (IL6); the V_max values were 23.2 ± 7.9 (control) and 11.9 ± 4.1 pmol/10⁶ cells/min (IL6). (c) SERT mRNA (qRT-PCR) (p = 0.0024; t₍₁₀₎ = 5.676; n = 5–6 per group) and (d) protein levels (Western Blot) (p = 0.0362; t₍₇₎ = 3.622; n = 4 per group) in untreated control and IL6 treated JAR cells. The blot is a representative of four independent experiments and blot images were cropped for comparison. (e) SERT mRNA levels in untreated (control) and IL6 treated (50 ng/ml, 48 h) primary mouse hippocampal neurons (p = 0.0347; t₍₁₁₎ = 2.541; n = 6 per group). (f) SERT protein expression in hippocampal tissue of control and IL6 injected (i.c.v.) mice (p = 0.0418; t₍₉₎ = 5.272; n = 4 to 6 per group). Data are depicted as mean +/− SEM. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.