Effects of thiazolidinediones on palmitate-induced ER stress and apoptotic signaling pathways.

RAW264.7 cells were pretreated with pioglitazone (10 μmol/L) or rosiglitazone (10 μmol/L) for 6 hours and stimulated with or without palmitate (400 μmol/L) for 16 hours.Western blot analyses for phospho (P)-PERK (A), CHOP (B), Phospho (P)-JNK (C) and Cleaved caspase-3 (D) were performed. The bar graphs indicates the ratio of P-PERK to PERK, CHOP to α-tubulin, P-JNK to JNK, and cleaved caspase-3 to α-tubulin, respectively. *P<0.05, ** P<0.01 vs control (palmitate (-), pioglitazone (-) and rosiglitazone (-)), #P<0.05, ## P<0.01 vs palmitate. n = 4.