Fig. 1

NF-κB activity was confirmed in the intervertebral disc. Part a shows increased levels of p65 in nuclear extracts upon degenerated disc samples compared with non-degenerated samples. Data were obtained by p65 immunoblotting of nuclear extracts (n = 3), and one representative sample is shown. Part b demonstrates that non-degenerated human NP cells show cytoplasmic localization of p65 (indicative of non-active NF-κB), while degenerated human NP cells show nuclear localization of p65 (which is indicative of active NF-κB). Data were obtained by immunocytochemistry for p65 (n = 2), and one representative sample is shown. Histone H3 is used as a loading control