The expression level of NRF2 and KEAP1 mRNA. To understand the role of ethanol in activating/suppressing the Nrf2 pathway, we investigated the central genes of this pathway, namely (a) NRF2 and (b) KEAP1, using real-time quantitative PCR platform. The results showed that the expression of both genes was decreased in higher concentrations of ethanol at the 6-h time point. However, an aberrant expression pattern was observed at 24-h time point. The statistical significance effect (P < 0.05) of different treatments on gene expression is marked with asterisks (^* = significantly different in different treatments compared with untreated control and ^# = significantly different in time points).