Involvement of Toll Like Receptor 2 Signaling in Secondary Injury during Experimental Diffuse Axonal Injury in Rats

Figure 4

Intracerebroventricular injection of TLR2 siRNA attenuated TLR2 expression. The feasibility and efficiency of TLR2 siRNA transfection were assessed. ((a), (b)) The normal brain was treated with TLR2 siRNA or control siRNA and cortexes were collected 1 d or 3 d later and subjected to western blot analysis and RT-PCR to measure TLR2 level, respectively. The expression of β-actin was used as an internal control. Values were presented as mean ± SD ( = 6; > 0.05, < 0.05, compared with the control group; < 0.05, compared with the control siRNA group; < 0.05, compared with the 1 d postinfection group). (c) To confirm that TLR2 siRNA was effectively maintained in the DAI rats, immunofluorescence staining was carried out using antibodies to TLR2 (red) and DAPI (blue) in corpus callosum, respectively (scale bar = 100 μm). The relative changes in TLR2 level were assessed by integral optical density (IOD). Values were presented as mean ± SD in three separate experiments ( = 6; < 0.05, compared with the control group; < 0.05, compared with the DAI 3 d + TLR2 siRNA group).

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