Sensitivity of IL-12(p40), IL-12(p35) mRNA, and IL-10 mRNA to DEX. mRNA was isolated from whole-blood cultures stimulated with 250 ng/mL LPS with (▩) or without (▪) 10−6 mol/L DEX and used to perform semiquantitative RT-PCR assays for IL-12(p40), IL-12(p35), and IL-10 as described in Materials and Methods. mRNA for IL-12(p40) and IL-12(p35) were measured after 4 hours of culture, whereas IL-10 mRNA was measured after 20 hours of culture; these time points were previously established to be optimal for the expression of these particular mRNAs. Results shown are density scans of one typical donor (top) as well as the mean ± SEM of six different healthy donors, expressed as a percentage of the mRNA expression in the absence of DEX (bottom). *P < .05.
