Fig. 6. Visfatin promotes NF-kB activation via the p38/PI3K/Akt/ROS signaling cascade. Endothelial cells were pre-incubated for 1 h in the absence or presence of PI3K inhibitor LY294002 (LY, 30 μM), p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 (SB, 20 μM), ROS scavenger NAC (5 mM), or IKK inhibitor BAY-11-7082 (BAY, 10 μM). Cells were then incubated in the absence or presence of visfatin (100 ng/ml) in the continued absence or presence of the inhibitor for a further (A and B) 30 min or (C) 24 h. Subsequently, the phosphorylation of (A) IKK, (B) I-kB, and (C) the nuclear protein expression of NF-kB p65 were measured. The results are the mean ± SEM for three separate experiments, each in triplicate. *P<0.05 compared with the untreated control; ^#P<0.05 compared with the visfatin alone group.