Fig. 2.

AChE transcription activity was induced by cellular calcium perturbation and the potential Smad3/4 binding element within the AChE promoter region is a calcium response element. a HeLa cells were co-transfected with pAChE-Luc (0.3 μg) and pRenilla-Luc (0.03 μg). After 24 h, a 45-min pre-treatment with the intracellular Ca²⁺ chelator BAPTA–AM (10 μM) was performed, followed by apoptosis induced by A23187 (2 μM) or TG (1 μM). AChE transcription activity was tested 24 h later by dual-luciferase reporter assay. *P < 0.05. b HeLa cells were co-transfected with pRenilla-Luc (0.03 μg) and pAChE-Luc or pAChE-Sm-Luc (0.3 μg); 24 h after transfection, apoptosis was induced by A23187 (2 μM) or TG (1 μM), and 24 h after induction, AChE transcription activity was tested by dual-luciferase reporter assay. *P < 0.05