Figure 5From: Propofol administration to the maternal-fetal unit improved fetal EEG and influenced cerebral apoptotic pathway in preterm lambs suffering from severe asphyxia Western blot in frontal cortex of fetal brain. Western blot for (A) NMDA receptors, (B) pSTAT-3, (C) Bcl-xL, (D) cytochrome c, (E) cleaved caspase-9, and (F) cleaved caspase-3 in frontal cortex of fetal brain normalized to β-actin. Levels of the gestational age control group were set to 1 in all panels. Depicted are mean and SEM. Significant differences (p < 0.05) compared to gestational age control groups are marked by (*). Significant differences (p < 0.05) between asphyxiated and corresponding non-asphyxiated drug control group are marked by § and significant differences between asphyxiated propofol and asphyxiated isoflurane treated lambs are marked by ‡. NMDA-R, N-methyl-d-aspartate-receptor; GA, gestational age; pSTAT-3, phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription-3; Bcl-xL, B-cell lymphoma-extra large; caspase, cysteinyl aspartate-specific protease.Back to article page