Figure 6.

Effects of H/R and GTN on the levels of caspase-3 polypeptide fragments as determined by Western blot analysis. Densitometric data are presented as means ± SE from five placentas and show significantly increased levels of caspase-3 fragments in explants exposed to H/R alone as compared with the levels of caspase-3 in control explants processed immediately after delivery (0 hours). β-Actin was used to normalize for loading variability. The asterisk indicates a significant difference (P < 0.05) between the levels of active caspase-3 in untreated villi after a 6-hour H/R insult compared with the levels of active caspase-3 in control villi processed immediately after delivery. Compared with control explants (0 hours), explants exposed to H/R in the presence of GTN did not exhibit significantly increased levels of caspase-3 fragments.