Figure 2

Injured muscle has a more pronounced inflammatory cytokine response in alcohol-fed mice. Real time PCR analyses of 3 inflammatory cytokines were performed in tibialis anterior (TA) muscles 2 days after BaCl₂-induced injury in mice provided alcohol in their drinking water for approximately 16 weeks. Injured TA muscles from control-fed mice had increased gene levels of (A) IL1β, (B) TNFα, and (C) IL6. Likewise, this pattern of increased expression persisted in injured muscles from EtOH-fed mice. Of the three, common inflammatory cytokines associated with early repair processes, gene levels of TNFα were higher in injured muscle from alcohol-fed mice compared to injured controls. Data are represented as means ± range of potential values based on the 2^-∆∆C _T method [7, 8, 22, 25, 48] and expressed as fold changes relative to uninjured controls. Significance was accepted at p ≤ 0.05. *, compared to control-fed, uninjured group. #, compared to EtOH-fed, uninjured group, $ compared to control-fed, injured group.