Figure 5: Effects of THC on p44/42 and p38 phophorylation. Aggregate cultures remained either untreated [Ctrl] or were treated with THC (1 μM) [T]; IFN-γ (50 U/ml) plus LPS (5 μg/ml) [I+L]; or treated with THC simultaneously with the inflammatory agents [I+L+T]. These treatments were applied one time (1X) or three times (3X). Panel A shows representative western blots for phophorylated-p44/42 [P-p44/42], phophorylated-p38 [Pp38], and actin. Panels B, D, and F show quantification of phophorylated-p44, phosphorylated-p42 and p38, respectively, expressed as percentage of untreated control cultures (=100%). Panels C, E, and G show quantification of phophorylated-p44, p42 and p38, respectively, expressed as percentage of cultures treated with the inflammatory agents (=100%). Cultures were harvested 24 hours after the treatments. Measuring β-actin expression assessed equal loading of protein. Each value is the mean of 8 - 9 replicate cultures. Results were statistically evaluated for significance by the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by the Mann-Whitney test. (*P<0.05, **P< 0.01, ***P<0.001 compared with untreated control cultures; °P<0.05, °°P< 0.01 compared with cultures treated with the inflammatory agents.