Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 9 pp 13087—13107

Figure 5. Mimecan increases corticosterone concentrations in vivo and in vitro with no effect on corticosterone synthesis. (A) Intraperitoneal injection of recombinant mimecan-MBP (vs. MBP) increases the serum concentration of corticosterone, normalized for 24 h after injection (n=8 per group) in three independent experiments. ***p<0.001 for mimecan-MBP vs. MBP treatment, ### p<0.001 for mimecan-MBP treatment at 0.5 h or 4 h vs. 2 h. There was no significant difference between the PBS and MBP injected groups. (B) The serum ACTH level was unaffected by intraperitoneal injection of recombinant mimecan-MBP compared with MBP injected controls. Serum corticosterone and ACTH were measured using ELISA (8 mice per group). C57BL/6 mice received intraperitoneal injections of recombinant mimecan-MBP (0.1 μmol/kg), MBP (0.1 μmol/kg), or PBS equivalent (controls). There was no significant difference between the PBS and MBP injected groups. (C) Recombinant mimecan-MBP increased the corticosterone concentration in culture supernatant of Y1 cells after 24 h of treatment at 7.64 μM compared with MBP in three independent experiments. (D–G) mRNA levels of key genes regulating corticosterone synthesis in adrenal tissues declined after intraperitoneal injection of recombinant mimecan-MBP (0.1 μmol/kg) vs. MBP (8 mice per group). There was no significant difference between the PBS and MBP injected groups. Data information: **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 for mimecan-MBP vs. MBP treatment, Student’s t-test.