Fig. 3

Effect of CA treatment on the mRNA levels of specific genes they encode in rat primary hepatocytes. Except for the control, in which cells were not exposed to any chemical, cells were incubated with CA at different concentrations (5, 10, and 20 μM) — or not at all — for 24 h before being incubated with 0.3 mM t-BHP for 2 h. Total RNA was extracted using the Trizol reagent and an equivalent amount of RNA was converted into cDNA using the reverse transcriptase kit implementing manufacturer’s instructions. qRT-PCR experiments were ultimately performed to analyze the amount of a HO-1, b GCLC, and c GCLM mRNA in rat primary hepatocytes. Values are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). Different letters indicate signification differences at p < 0.05 by Tukey’s studentized range tests