Effect of Administration of an Equal Dose of Selected Dietary Chemicals on Nrf2 Nuclear Translocation in the Mouse Liver

Figure 1

Administration of equal doses (50 mg/kg b.w.) of SUL, CUR, QRC, BHA, and I3C to mice for 14 days induces Nrf2 nuclear translocation in the liver with different potencies. (a) Nuclear fractions (100 μg) from each mouse were separated by electrophoresis, and the expressions of proteins were analyzed by Western blotting. Nrf2 is the protein of interest, while histone H3 is the housekeeping protein for the nuclear fraction. The bands for Nrf2 and histone H3 were densitometrically scanned, and the expression of nuclear Nrf2 (relative to histone) was determined as fold increase of the vehicle-treated (control) animals as shown in the bar chart above. (b) Cytoplasmic fractions (100 μg) from each mouse were separated by electrophoresis, and the expressions of proteins were analyzed by Western blotting. Nrf2 is the protein of interest, while β-actin is the housekeeping protein for the cytoplasmic fraction. The bands for Nrf2 and β-actin were densitometrically scanned, and the expression of Nrf2 in the nuclear fraction (relative to β-actin) was determined as fold increase of the vehicle-treated (control) animals as shown in the bar chart above. Values are expressed as the (). Asterisk () indicates a statistically significant difference from all control groups (vehicle 1 control and vehicle 2 control groups) after analysis using the Mann–Whitney test (). SUL: sulforaphane-treated group; CUR: curcumin-treated group; QRC: quercetin-treated group; BHA: butylated hydroxyanisole-treated group; I3C: indole 3 carbinol-treated group; VH1: control group treated with vehicle 1; VH2: control group treated with vehicle 2.

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