Figure 3. Effects of hypoxia on the expression of cytokines in SV40-HCECs exposed to LPS. Total RNA was isolated from SV40-HCECs cultured under 20% O₂ (control group) or 2% O₂ (Hypoxia group) for 72 h and stimulated with LPS for 24 h. The expression of the mRNA of IL-6 and IL-8 was determined using real-time PCR. The relative level of mRNA expression for each cytokine is normalized to G3PDH mRNA expression. The p-values were calculated using a two-tailed paired t test. The asterisk indicates a p<0.05 and the double asterisk indicates a p<0.01).