We followed the protocols described in our studies (Yao and Abdel-Rahman, 2016 (link), Ibrahim et al., 2014 (link), Yao and Abdel-Rahman, 2017 (link)). The supernatant (40 µg of protein) of the homogenized LV tissue was separated in a 4–12% gel electrophoresis (Novex Tis-Glycine gel, Life Technologies, CA), and transferred to nitrocellulose membrane, and then incubated with a primary antibody (mouse anti-p-ERK1/2 and rabbit anti ERK1/2; 1:500, Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA). Thereafter, the membrane was incubated with a secondary antibody (IRDye680-conjugated goat anti-mouse and IRDye800-conjugated goat anti-rabbit, 1:15000, LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, NE), and the protein bands were detected and quantified by Odyssey Infrared Imager (LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, NE).