Figure 1

Curcumin activates p38MAPK and phosphorylates HSP25 in cultured Pods. 5.5 mM glucose (NG), 5.5 mM glucose+30 μM curcumin (NG+Cur), 30 mM glucose (HG), 30 mM glucose+30 μM curcumin (HG+Cur), 5.5 mM glucose+24.5 mM mannitol (NG+M). (a) Representative Western blots of phospho-specific p38MAPK (pp38MAPK) and quantitative evaluation of pp38MAPK relative to total p38MAPK (p38MAPK) by densitometric analysis. (b) Representative IEF separating total HSP25 into its nonphosphorylated isoform (P0), mono- (P1), and bi-phoshorylated (P2) isoforms, Western blots of HSP25, and quantitative evaluation of relative phosphorylated HSP25 isoforms to total HSP25 ((P1 + P2)/(P0 + P1 + P2)) by densitometry analysis. Mannitol values (n = 2) are not displayed but were similar to NG. (c) DNAse I assay of F-actin/G-actin ratios. All data expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3). *P < 0.05 compared with NG; #P < 0.01 compared with NG; **P < 0.05 compared with HG; ##P < 0.01 compared with HG.