Figure 1

PA stimulates apoptosis in hepatocytes. (A) HL-7702 and HepG2 cells were treated with either control or PA (100 μM, 250 μM, 500 μM) for 24 hours. Cell viability was detected by CCK-8 assay. Respectively, at 0, 6, 12, 24 time points, PA (500 μM) and CCK-8 assay were used (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01). (B) DNA fragmentation detection kit was used to deal with cells after treatment with control or PA for 24h, then cells were observed under a confocal microscopy (bar: 50 μm). (C) The ratio was calculated by counting the percentage of cells exhibiting positive TUNEL staining. Quantization was measured for the three times from the three times independent TUNEL assay (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01). (D) Western blot analysis detected PARP and Cleaved-caspase3 proteins levels in cells after treatment with control or PA for 24 hours. (E) Cells were dealt with control or PA for 24 hours, and stained with AnnexinV-FITC and PI, and then apoptotic cells were quantified by flow cytometry (FCM). Numbers within quadrants represent the percentages of cells in early apoptosis ( AnnexinV + PI - ; lower right ) and in late apoptosis and necrosis (AnnexinV + PI + ; upper right ).