Figure 8. The effect of inflammatory cytokine on complement C3 and C5 gene expression in BV-2 and retinal pigment epithelium cells. Primary RPE cells and BV-2 cells were treated with pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α (20 ng/ml), interferon (IFN)-γ (100 ng/ml), interleukin (IL)-6 (10 ng/ml), and lipopolysaccharides (LPS;1 µg/ml) for 20 h. Cells were then collected for real-time RT–PCR analysis of C3 gene expression (A) or conventional RT–PCR analysis of C5 gene expression (B). Mouse liver RNA was used as a positive control in B. n=3 in each group. *p<0.05; **p<0.01 when compared to untreated controls using unpaired Student's t test. Experiments were repeated twice.