Figure 2.

BY extract suppresses EtOH-induced apoptotic cell death in HepG2 cells. (a) Hoechst staining was performed for nuclear staining using cells treated with BY extract and/or EtOH. The arrow indicates apoptotic cells with nuclear condensation. (b) The apoptotic index was shown as the percentage of apoptotic cells vs. total cells. A total of 50 cells were counted in at least 10 fields. Western blot analysis for apoptosis-related proteins (c) and the densities of the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax (d) and pro- (e) and cleaved (f) caspase-3 proteins. The results are shown as the mean ± SEM in triplicate (n = 6). # p < 0.05, ## p < 0.01, ### p < 0.001 vs. control. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, and *** p < 0.001 vs. ethanol-alone-treated group. Cont, control; BY extract, bulbil of yam extract; EtOH, ethanol.