Fig. 1

Serum lysophosphatidic acids in MS patients and EAE mice and LPAR preferences. a Scatter plots with mean and SD showing the concentrations of lysophosphatidic acids (LPA), LPA16:0, 18:0, 18:1, 18:2, 18:3 and 20:4 in serum samples of 102 patients with multiple sclerosis (demographic data in Table 1) and 301 healthy control. LPAs were analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Data were compared with unpaired, two-sided Student’s t-tests. b Box plots showing a comparison of LPA regulations in MS patients with RRMS (n = 97) and SJL-EAE mice (n = 10). The box represents the interquartile range, the whiskers show minimum to maximum, the line is the median. Data were compared with a 2-way ANOVA, followed by comparisons for each LPA using an adjustment of alpha according to Šidák. c Scatter plots showing LPA concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 24 MS patients versus 8 patients with other neurological diseases and in EAE versus control mice (n = 9 per group). EAE was induced in female SJL/J mice with a standard PLP/PTX immunization protocol and clinical scores were monitored. Serum and CSF samples were taken 35 days after immunization, i.e. at the end of the second peak. Control samples were from female, age matched SJL/J mice, injected with CFA without PLP. Data were compared with two-way ANOVA (factors “LPA” and “group”; followed by comparisons for each LPA using an adjustment of alpha according to Šidák). d Analysis of LPA receptor preferences of unsaturated and saturated LPAs of different chain length analyzed in COS cells with heterologous expression of LPAR1, 2, 3 or 4 along with the alpha subunit of the promiscuous G-protein G15 (G-alpha15). Data show the mean and s.e.m of 3 replicate analyses. Mock-Gα15 transduced cells were used as controls. For all panels asterisks indicate significant differences between groups, and show adjusted P values, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001