Fig. 1

Dexamethasone (DEX) downregulates lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced macrophage activation and IL-6 gene expression. a Morphological changes were induced by LPS and DEX. RAW 264.7 cells were treated with 1 μg/mL of LPS and 10 μM DEX for 24 h. b DEX mediated the LPS-induced IL-6 promoter activities. c The mRNA levels of IL-6 were induced by LPS and reversed by adding DEX. All values are expressed as the mean ± SD and each experiment was conducted with triplicate cultures. The intergroup comparisons were performed using Student’s two-tailed unpaired t-test