Fig. 1

Relationship between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. CIH shifted females to a pro-inflammatory state. CIH specifically elevated IL-6 levels in females, which was not affected by MT (A). MT lowered IL-6 levels in normoxic but not CIH rats (A). Vehicle female rats exposed to CIH had lower IL-10 levels (B). In CIH females, MT elevated IL-10 levels (B). The IL-6/IL-10 ratio was only significantly elevated in vehicle CIH females (C). In males, MT lowered the IL-6/IL-10 ratio only in the normoxic rats (C). Data for inflammatory cytokines was log transformed for analysis. Raw values are shown and error bars denote mean ± S.E.M. Analyzed by 3-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD multiple comparisons tests. ANOVA significance indicated by: ***p < 0.001; Post-hoc significance indicated by unique letters (p ≤ 0.05). Significant effects observed (A): CIH (F_{1, 38} = 10.123; p = 0.003; η² = 0.146); MT (F_{1, 38} = 6.055; p = 0.019; η² = 0.087); CIH X Sex (F_{1, 38} = 7.369; p = 0.010; η² = 0.106); (F_{1, 38} = 6.348; p = 0.016; η² = 0.091). Significant effects observed (B): CIH X MT (F_{1, 40} = 4.437; p = 0.041; η² = 0.083); CIH X Sex X MT (F_{1, 40} = 5.412; p = 0.025; η² = 0.101). Significant effects observed (C): CIH (F_{1, 38} = 7.403; p = 0.010; η² = 0.110); CIH X Sex (F_{1, 38} = 7.334; p = 0.010; η² = 0.109); CIH X Sex X MT (F_{1, 38} = 9.344; p = 0.004; η² = 0.139). Individual letters reflect sets of data which are not significantly different from each other. Should two bars within a graph have the same letter, then these two groups are not significantly different from each other. All figures in which multiple letters are presented together (e.g., abc) refer to unique comparisons of a, b, and c respectively. CIH chronic intermittent hypoxia, MT MitoTEMPOL