Figure 6. Induction of individual differentially expressed proteins by a high level of arsenite can be inhibited by NAC at unique specific time points.

LECs were exposed to sodium arsenite (40 μM) in the absence or presence of NAC (20 mM). NAC was added before (−1 h), at the same time (0 h) or at various later time points and sodium arsenite was added at time 0 h. LECs were also treated with NAC alone. After 24 h of arsenite treatment, cells were lysed and whole cell lysate was prepared. (A) Effects of NAC on protein expression profiles of seven proteins in basal and arsenite-treated cells were assessed by 2-DE analyses and shown in montage view. (B) The corresponding DAPI staining of (A) for the determination of apoptotic cells. Nuclear staining was performed using 1 μg/ml DAPI, and apoptotic cells were analysed with a fluorescence microscope. Black bars indicate arsenite treatment. Results are expressed as means±S.D. for triplicate samples and reproducibility was confirmed in three separate experiments.