We measured various blood and
R935788 markers in order to further characterize the inflammatory process during croton oil treatment. One day after croton oil treatment, white blood cell (WBC) counts dropped, while by 4 days post-treatment and thereafter, the counts were slightly elevated (Fig. 1B, top). Levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 increased markedly, from undetectable to 1352 pg/ml, 1 day after croton oil treatment, but returned to near baseline within 4 days ( Fig. 1B, middle). Coinciding with the changes in IL-6 level was a
aneuploidy marked increase in the acute phase protein SAA, from a baseline level of 9.2–1287 μg/ml 1 day post-treatment, decreasing to about 5–10 times above baseline from 4 to 11 days post-treatment ( Fig. 1B, bottom). Neither TNF-α or IL-1β levels were affected by croton oil treatment (data not shown). Shown measurements were taken at the last treatment interval before sacrifice of the animal for atherosclerotic lesion measurements. Measurements taken at an intermediate treatment time-point yielded similar results.
