Figure 6.

Metformin treatments rescue stress-induced apoptosis of GI CD326⁺ epithelial cells in mice. Flow cytometry analysis was performed on GI CD326⁺ epithelial cells obtained from ATF3^−/− mice, with or without 9-h restraint stress and with or without metformin treatments. CD326 was used as an epithelial cell marker, while active-form caspase 3 (a-caspase 3) served as an apoptotic cell marker. Statistical analysis revealed * p < 0.05 compared with the respective no-stress groups, and # p < 0.05 compared with the respective control groups without metformin treatments (vehicle controls). The total number of mice used in each group was 6 (three experiments with a total of 6 mice per group).