Fig. 5.

Knockdown of DcR3 induces apoptosis in ARPE-19 cells under LPS, TCDD, or H₂O₂ stimulation. a. MTT assay showed less cell viability in DcR3 knockdown ARPE-19 cells than in controls under each stimulus. Each cell viability trial was evaluated against the unstimulated cells transfected with control siRNA (designated as baseline 1); b. Annexin V and 7-AAD apoptosis assay showed a higher percentage of apoptosis in DcR3 knockdown ARPE-19 cells than in controls under the stimuli; c, d. FasL (c) and Fas (d) mRNA expression was increased in DcR3 knockdown ARPE-19 cells under each stimulus; e, f, g, h. Immunofluorescence micrograph showed higher expression of FasL (e, green), Fas (f, green), cleaved caspase-3 (g, green), and cleaved caspase-9 (h, green) in DcR3 knockdown ARPE-19 cells than in controls with LPS and TCDD stimulation. Enhanced expression of FasL, Fas, cleaved caspase-3, and cleaved caspase-9 was comparable between control and DcR3 knockdown ARPE-19 cells under H₂O₂ stimulation. The nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). The data are represented as mean ± SD (n = 3). *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001 compared between control siRNA and DcR3 siRNA