Figure 2.

Vitamin E prevents HIV PI-induced oxidative stress in CEC. H₂DCFDA staining was performed to determine the levels of ROS in cells treated with 5 μM saquinavir (SQV), indinavir (INV), nelfinavir (NFV), ritonavir (RTV), or 5 μM INV/1 μM RTV, with and without 1 h pre-treatment with Vitamin E to PI exposure for A) 1 h and B) 48 h. Pixel intensity from fluorescent H₂DCFDA staining was measured by fluorescence confocal microscopy and graphed. Original magnification was 62×. For 1 h PI treatments, *p ≤ 0.05 by one way ANOVA with Dunnett's post hoc test when comparing to untreated control, and ** p ≤ 0.001 by Fisher's post hoc test when comparing PI treatment without Vitamin E to PIs with Vitamin E. For 48 h treatments, *p ≤ 0.05 by one way ANOVA with Dunnett's post hoc test when comparing to untreated control, and ** p ≤ 0.005 by Fisher's post hoc test when comparing PI treatment without Vitamin E to PI with Vitamin E. Graphs reflect results from three or more separate experiments.