Fig. 7.

Fullerol effect on caspase-3 activation in HLE cells stored in the dark or exposed to UVA. The cells were incubated with 0–10 µM fullerol in Minimum Essential Medium (MEM)/DMSO (99:1) for 17 h and then exposed to UVA for 10 min. After irradiation the cells were incubated in MEM/FBS (8:2) for 6.5 h. Caspase-3 activity was determined in cytosolic extracts with ApoAlert Caspase Fluorescent Assay Kit, where DEVD-AFC fluorescent substrate was used. Values are expressed as mean ± SE (n=6). * p<0.01 comparing results obtained in cells incubated with fullerol and irradiated with UVA vs. the fullerol-treated cells incubated in the dark. The differences in caspase-3 activity between fullerol-treated cells vs control cells were statistically significant at p<0.01 for 5 and 10 µM fullerol within the group of cells exposed to UVA and 10 µM within the group of cells kept in the dark.