Fig. 1

Effect of APOE genotype on hepatic metallothionein 1 (MT1; a) and 2 (MT2; b) mRNA levels (n = 8) determined by real-time PCR as well as metallothionein protein level (n = 8) (c) as measured by ¹⁰⁹Cd affinity assay in APOE3 (open bars) as compared to APOE4 mice (solid bars). Data are means + SEM (study 1). Asterisks (*) indicate significant differences between APOE3 and APOE4 animals. Genomic DNA isolated from the liver of APOE3 and APOE4 mice was analysed for methylation status of cytosine-phospho-guanine (CpG) sites in the metallothionein 1 (MT1) and 2 (MT2) gene promoters (d). A 255-bp portion of the H19 regulatory region served as control amplicon. Exemplary data for one amplicon for each gene are shown. The grey dots indicate the software-determined methylation ratio at each analysed CpG unit for each sample. Upper numbering scheme refers to the base positions within the analysed amplicon. Lower numbers indicate the individual CpG sites located in the amplicon