matrixscience.com/search_form_select.html). see more To determine the expression of hemopexin (HPX) protein, the intestinal mucosa was scraped off using two glass slides and tissue specimens of the small intestine were homogenized in ice-cold lysis buffer (CelLyticTM MT Cell Lysis Reagent; Sigma-Aldrich) with a protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma-Aldrich). Total protein were then purified by centrifugation at 10 000 g for 10 min at 4°C. Protein concentrations of the supernatants were adjusted to 1 mg/mL by dilution in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) gel loading buffer (Invitrogen Japan KK) and boiled for 10 min before loading. The samples were subjected to 12% SDS-PAGE and blotted onto a polyvinylidene difluoride

(PVDF) membrane (Atto Corp., Tokyo, Japan). The membrane was blocked with 2% bovine serum albumin in TBS-T (TBS and 0.1% Tween 20) at room temperature for 30 min. Western blotting was carried out using rabbit polyclonal anti-HPX antibody (1:1000;

Abcam, Cambridge, UK) at room temperature for 1 h. After three washes with TBS-T, the membrane was incubated with anti-rabbit IgG-horseradish peroxide (1:3000; GE Healthcare UK) at room temperature for 45 min. The signals were visualized using an enhanced chemiluminescence kit (GE Healthcare UK) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The band intensities were determined using CS Analyzer software, version 2.0 (Atto Corp.). After 24-h of fixation in formalin, the samples of intestinal tissues were embedded in paraffin, and sections were cut at 5-µm thickness using a microtome cryostat, and mounted on MAS-coated slides. We

performed antigen retrieval using Proteinase PLX3397 K solution (Dako, Tokyo, Japan), and the sections were rinsed with distilled water for 5 min, MCE and then incubated with 3% hydrogen peroxide in methanol for 30 min to block endogenous peroxidase activity. After incubation, the sections were washed in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)–Tween for 5 min each. Non-specific binding was blocked by incubating the slides with Dako cytomation protein block (Dako) for 30 min at room temperature. The sections were then incubated with rabbit anti-HPX polyclonal antibody (Abcam) diluted 1:100 in antibody dilution (Dako) for one night at 4°C. The sections are then washed three times in PBS-Tween for 5 min each, and incubated with secondary antibody (Histfine Simple Stain rat MAX-PO [rabbit], Nichirei Biosciences, Tokyo, Japan) for 30 min at room temperature. Unbound antibodies were washed away by three 5-min washes in PBS and the bound antibodies were visualized using 3,3′-diaminobenzidine (DAB) as the chromogen substrate reagent. Negative controls for nonspecific binding incubated with secondary antibodies were also processed and revealed no signal. All sections are counterstained with hematoxylin. The sections were finally dehydrated, cleared, and coverslipped. The results of the ulcer index are expressed as the mean ± SEM.