Figure 4.

STS suppresses TNF-α-induced H9c2 cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Cells were incubated with 20 ng·mL⁻¹ TNF-α in the presence or absence of the indicated concentrations of STS for 24 h. Apoptosis of cells was determined with (A) Hoechst 33342-based fluorescence microscopy. Arrowheads in the pictures indicate the nuclei of apoptotic cells, and (B) Annexin V-FITC-based flow cytometry (the Annexin V-FITC +/PI- population of gated cells was measured with CellQuest software and presented as an apoptosis ratio). (C) Caspase-3 and caspase-8 activities and (D) MMP were in these cultures were also measured. Values are presented as means ± SD from three independent experiments. ^###P < 0.001, significantly different from control, *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001, significantly different from TNF-α alone.