Fig. 4

The effects of ESC-M on regulation of macrophage activation and phagocytosis. a BMDMs were incubated with myelin debris to induce mye-Mϕ, and then incubated with CON-M or ESC-M for 24 h respectively. The mRNA levels of TNF-α and arginase-1 (Arg-1) were determined by RT-PCR (n = 4). Fold change values were normalized to mye-Mϕ treated with CON-M. b BMDMs were pre-treated with CON-M or ESC-M for 24 h and then incubated with myelin debris for 1 or 2 h. The myelin lipids engulfed were stained by ORO (left, original magnification, ×200). Intracellular MBP was assayed by ELISA to determine the quantity of phagocytosed myelin debris (right, n = 3). c Naïve-Mϕ (BMDMs without myelin treatment) or mye-Mϕ were treated with CON-M or ESC-M for 24 h and then incubated with apoptotic thymocytes labeled with CFSE for 30 min to test apoptotic cell phagocytosis (left, original magnification, ×200). The percentage of ingested apoptotic cells were calculated (right, n = 4). (*p < 0.05) Data are represented as means ± SD