Fig. 2. Changes in cytokine levels, different TJ- and AJ-associated molecules, cytoskeleton components, proteases and protease inhibitors in rat testes during CdCl₂-induced BTB damage. (A) Rats that had been treated with CdCl₂ [3 mg/kg body weight by intraperitoneal injection (b.w., i.p.)] were sacrificed and testis lysates were prepared as described in Materials and Methods. Proteins (100 µg per lane) from these lysates were resolved by SDS-PAGE and subjected to immunoblot analysis using the corresponding primary antibody as indicated. (B) Immunoblot analysis to quantify the levels of ₂-MG of testis lysates from rats receiving 1 mg/kg b.w. CdCl₂. (C-N) Densitometry scans of immunoblots, such as those shown in A. The protein level of a corresponding target protein at time 0 was arbitrarily set at 1. Each bar is mean±s.d. of three to five determinations from three to five rats of each experiment. Two other sets of experiments yielded virtually identical results. nd, non-detectable; ns, not significantly different by ANOVA where a given sample was compared to all other samples within an experimental group; ^*significantly different, P<0.05; ^**significantly different, P<0.01.