Figure 4.

Ginsenoside protopanaxadiol and g-PPT bind to GR. (A) The mRNA of GR was detected in HUVECs using RT- and real-time PCR. (B) Triple fluorescence staining of GR (red), F-actin (green) and nuclei (DAPI, blue) in HUVECs. The GR agonist, Dex (10 nmol·L⁻¹), increased (C) [Ca²⁺]_i in 75 s as illustrated by the Fura-2; and (D) NO production in 24 h as measured by the Griess reagent. Bars represent the fold change in the NO production over control. Data are mean ± SD of three experiments. Asterisk (*) indicates a significant difference between control and treatment groups (P ≤ 0.05). [Ca²⁺]_i, intracellular calcium ion concentration; DAPI, 2-(4-amidinophenyl)-6-indolecarbamidine dihydrochloride; Dex, dexamethasone; GAPDH, Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; g-PPT, ginsenoside protopanaxatriol; GR, glucocorticoid receptor; HUVECs, human umbilical vein endothelial cells; NO, nitric oxide; RT, reverse transcriptase.