Figure 4

Tissue expression of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) mRNA in the tongue of the mercury-treated rats by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). A and B: qRT-PCR analyses examine expression levels of mRNA encoding IL-4 (A) and IFN-γ (B) normalized by those of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH). Data represents mean ± standard error (SE) of pooled data derived from three to five independent experiments. *, significantly different at p< 0.05 compared with the control. **, significantly different at p<0.01 compared with the control. §, significantly different at p<0.05 compared with phases I and II. §§, significantly different at p<0.05 compared with control, phases I, and II. C: Agarose gel electrophoresis analysis of qRT-PCR. Ctr, control; I, phase I; II, phase II; III, phase III.