Fig. 5.

Caspase-3 activity in left ventricular tissue. In series 1, activity in sham rats (n = 4) was compared with activity in VF 8-min group (n = 4). In series 2, activity in rats pretreated with DMSO (n = 4) was compared with activity in rats pretreated with the caspase-3 inhibitor z-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp chloromethyl ketone (z-DEVD-cmk; n = 4). For each group, samples were treated in the absence (a) and presence (b) of the caspase-3 inhibitor DEVD-CHO to control for the specificity of the reaction. Means are ± SE. *P < 0.05 vs. sham; †P < 0.03 vs. z-DEVD-cmk by Student's t-test. AFC, 7-amino-4-trifluoromethyl coumarin.