Figure 2

The production of IL-6 induced by inactivated oral bacteria at the concentration of 10⁷/ml and TNF-α (10 ng/ml) in healthy SMCs (HSMCs, n = 2) and atheroma derived SMCs (AthSMCs, n = 4). Means (+SD) are expressed as induction folds compared to medium values (no stimulus). Statistically significant differences (*; p = 0.01 and **; p = 0.001) are marked in the figure. S. Streptococcus; P. ging, Porphyromonas gingivalis; A. act, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α. Red bar represents from AthSMCs results and blue from HSMCs.