Figure 5

Effects of treatments on the protein expression and phosphorylation of p38. (A) Representative immunoblots of protein expression and phosphorylation of p38 in the renal tissues of STZ-diabetic rats for eight weeks with zerumbone (ZER) or rosiglitazone (RGZ). STZ-diabetic rats were dosed by oral gavage once daily for eight weeks with 20 mg/kg ZER (ZER 20), 40 mg/kg ZER (ZER 40) or 5 mg/kg RGZ (RGZ). Normal (normal + VEH) or STZ-diabetic rats receiving vehicle treatment (STZ + VEH) were administered the same volume of vehicle (VEH) used to dissolve test medications. (B) Ratios of P-p38/β-actin and p38/β-actin, or (C) P-p38/p38 are expressed as the mean with SD (n = 4 per group) in each column. ^ap < 0.01 and ^bp < 0.01 compared to vehicle-treated normal rats. ^cp < 0.05 and ^dp < 0.01 compared to vehicle-treated STZ-diabetic rats, respectively.