Fig. 5.

β-Elemene increased cisplatin-induced DNA fragmentation in A2780/CP cells, as quantified by cell death detection ELISA. Cells were treated with β-elemene (50 μg/ml) alone, cisplatin (20 μM) alone, or the combination of both drugs for 24, 48, or 72 h. Untreated cells were used as the control. After treatment, the cells were incubated in lysis buffer for 30 min to obtain cytoplasmic lysates. A cell death detection ELISA kit was used to quantitatively determine cytoplasmic histone-associated DNA oligonucleosome fragments associated with apoptotic cell death. ELE 50, β-elemene alone; CDDP 20, cisplatin alone; ELE 50 + CDDP 20, the combination of β-elemene and cisplatin. Data are representative of three independent experiments. Values are mean ± SD (bars) of triplicate samples. ^#P <0.01 and ^##P <0.05 compared with untreated cells, and *P <0.01 and **P <0.05 compared with β-elemene alone or cisplatin alone