Fig. 6

Egr-1 knockout in hBMEC suppresses meningitic E. coli-induced TJ protein degradation. A Real-time PCR analysis of ZO-1, Occludin, and Claudin-5 transcription in WT and Egr-1-knockout hBMEC upon infection. The transcription of β-actin was used as the internal reference. Data were presented as the mean ± SD from three independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001. B Western blot analysis of ZO-1, Occludin, and Claudin-5 expression in WT and Egr-1-knockout hBMEC upon infection. β-actin was used as the loading control, and densitometry was performed to analyze the differences. C Immunofluorescence analysis determining the distribution and expression of ZO-1, Occludin, and Claudin-5 in WT and Egr-1-knockout hBMEC upon infection. Nuclei were stained in blue with DAPI, while ZO-1, Occludin, and Claudin-5 were stained in red. Scale bar, 10 μm