Figure 2. Reduced apoptosis in irradiated parotid glands pretreated with Roscovitine.

Mice were treated as stated in Figure 1. A) Parotid glands were removed 6 hours after radiation treatment for immunoblotting, prepared as described in the materials and methods, and membranes were probed for phosphorylated Akt, total Akt, phosphorylated MDM2, and total MDM2. All membranes were striped and re-probed for total ERK as a loading control. Images are representative of several experiments. Abbreviations represent untreated (UT), irradiated with vehicle pre-treatment (IR+V), Roscovitine alone (Rosco), and Roscovitine prior to irradiation (IR+Rosco). Tissues were collected at 24 hours (B) and 48 hours (C), embedded in paraffin, and stained for cleaved caspase-3 as described in the materials and methods. Results are displayed as the number of cleaved caspase-3 positive cells as a percentage of total counted cells. The data are graphed as the mean with SEM≥3 mice per treatment group. Representative images of cleaved caspase-3 staining are shown below the graphs. Treatment groups with the same letters are not statistically different from each other.