Fig. 2. Semi-quantitative analysis of NDST-1 and -2 transcript expression by the HMEC-1 cell line. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis was carried out for HMEC-1 cells both 4 hours (A) and 16 hours (B) after stimulation with the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF- and IFN-; the results were compared with data from resting cells. The RANTES transcript was also examined as a positive control and Gap-DH was examined as an internal standard. The gel images show the RT-PCR products generated from unstimulated (-) or stimulated (+) HMEC-1 cells with their respective Gap-DH products. The white bars in the graphs show the mean relative band intensity for the unstimulated control cells and are normalised to 100%. The black bars represent the mean relative band intensity for the cells stimulated with TNF- and IFN-. The P values above the bars show the significance of differences between the data sets.