Figure 1 Sulfasalazine reduced bile acid induced apoptosis in a hepatoma cell line. (A) HepG2‐Ntcp and parent HepG2 cells were treated with diluent or glycochenodeoxycholic acid (GCDCA) at the indicated concentrations for four hours. The pancaspase inhibitor ZVAD‐FMK (20 µmol/l) was used to demonstrate the specificity of the assay. Apoptosis was quantified by measuring caspase 3/7 activity and expressed as a percentage over controls (set as 100%). (B) HepG2‐Ntcp cells were treated with GCDCA (75 µmol/l) in the presence or absence of sulfasalazine (SSZ) at the indicated concentrations. Apoptosis was quantified by measuring caspase 3/7 activity (*p<0.05; ††p<0.01 v GCDCA). (C) HepG2‐Ntcp cells were treated with GCDCA (75 µmol/l) in the presence or absence of SSZ at the indicated concentrations. Apoptosis was quantified by measuring caspase 9 activity (*p<0.05; ††p<0.01 v GCDCA). Results are mean (SD) of six independent experiments.