Figure 6. BOL-303242-X and dexamethasone (DEX) reduce IL-1ß-induced JNK and p38 MAPK phosphorylation in human corneal epithelial cells. Cells were pretreated with vehicle, BOL-303242-X, or DEX for 2 h, and then further treated with vehicle, IL-1ß, IL-1ß plus BOL303242-X, or DEX in basic EpiLife medium for 30 min. Cell lysates were prepared, resolved by SDS-PAGE, and western blotting was performed with phospho and total p38 or JNK antibodies. The top images show representative western blots for phosphorylated JNK (pJNK), total JNK, phosphorylated p38 (pp38), and total p38. At the bottom, the results of the quantification by densitometry and phosphorylated:total JNK or p38 ratios are shown for the pJNK (left panel) and pp38 (right panel) blots. The data are expressed as % of IL-β. Data are means±SEM from three to four independent experiments. The asterisk indicates a p≤0.05 versus IL-1ß. One-way ANOVA followed by the Dunnett’s test on data elevated to the power of 0.8 for pJNK and on raw data for p38. In the figure, BOL represents BOL-303242-X.