Fig. 5.

BITC treatment depletes GSH levels. (A) Capan-2 cells were treated with 10 μM BITC for 0, 1, 2 or 3 h and total and oxidized GSH levels were measured as described in Materials and Methods. (B and C) Cells were pre-treated with 5 mM NAC for 1 h followed by treatment with or without 10 μM BITC for 2 h and oxidized as well as total GSH levels were measured. (D) Cells were pre-treated with 5 mM GSH, 5000 U/ml catalase, 5000 U/ml SOD or 10 mM tiron for 1 h followed by treatment with or without 10 μM BITC for 24 h and its effect on the cell cycle distribution was evaluated by flow cytometry as described in Materials and Methods. Values are means ± standard errors of the mean of three independent experiments (each conducted in triplicate). Data were analyzed by one-way non-parametric analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni's post hoc multiple comparison test. Differences were considered statistically significant at *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 when compared with control and #P < 0.05, ##P < 0.01 and ###P < 0.001 when compared with BITC treatment.