Figure 4

The hierarchy order of nAChR downstream effectors in MCF10A cells. (A) After the suppression of nAChR by MCA, the phosphorylation status of ERK1/2 or Akt was tested by immunoblot. (B) After transient transfection of dn-src, MCF10A cells were treated with EGF (100 ng/ml) for 15 minutes and the expression of the phosphorylated form of Src was then examined by immunoblot (left panels). The expression of phosphorylated ERK1/2 or Akt in nicotine-treated MCF10A cells with or without transiently expressing dn-src was analyzed by immunoblot (middle and right panels). (C) The cells were treated with AG1478 (100 nM), PD168393 (5 μM) or KP372-1 (1 μM) for 15 minutes, prior to nicotine exposure. Subsequently, the expression of the phosphorylated ERK1/2 or Akt was analyzed. -the full names of all abbreviations (including the inhbitors) are provided in the text.