Figure 1

LPS activates JNK and leads to rapid nuclear export of RXRα. C57BL/6 male mice were injected IP with 0.9% saline (Sal) or 2 μg/g bw of Salmonella LPS. Livers were isolated at the indicated time-points and whole cell extracts were prepared. A. Phosphorylation of c-JUN (P-cJUN) and JNK (P-JNK) was determined by immunoblotting cell lysates with phospho-c-JUN and phospho-JNK antibodies respectively. Total JNK levels in the liver tissue (JNK) are shown in the lower panels. This data is representative of three animals per treatment group. B. Nuclear (Nuc) and cytosolic (Cyt) extracts were analyzed by immunoblotting with antibodies to RXRα and RARα to determine subcellular localization of RXRα. The extracts from 4 animals were combined to account for inter-animal variability. Note the high molecular weight smear in LPS-treated extractions (most evident at 1 h). Data quantified and normalized to saline-injected samples (set at 1.0). C. Immunofluorescent analysis of formalin-fixed mouse liver tissues after 1 h of saline or LPS treatment. The blue color indicates DAPI staining of the nuclei, the green color indicates RXRα detected with FITC-labeled secondary antibody, DAPI/FITC are the merged images. The saline and LPS-treated samples are represented in the left and right panels, respectively.