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. 2013 Aug 12;8(8):e71773. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071773

Figure 1. Metformin dose-dependently reduces bile acid-induced caspase-3 activity, but not TNFα/ActD-induced apoptosis.

Figure 1

Primary rat hepatocytes were exposed to metformin (0.1–2 mmol/L) added 10 minutes prior to (A) GCDCA (50 µmol/L, 4 hrs) or (B) TNFα/ActD (20 ng/ml, 200 ng/ml, 16 hrs). Caspase-3 like activity is shown as fold induction compared to control values; control values were set at one. (C) Metformin prevents GCDCA (4 hrs) induced nuclear condensation as demonstrated by acridine orange staining, but has no effect on TNFα/ActD (16 hrs) induced nuclear condensation. Percentages represent condensed nuclei. Magnification 20X. (D) Metformin also reduces GCDCA-induced caspase-6 activity. Caspase-6 like activity was measured in primary rat hepatocytes exposed to GCDCA (50 µmol/L, 4 hrs) and/or metformin (1 mmol/L) and is shown as fold induction compared to control values; control values were set at one. N = 4 for each experiment. Statistical analysis: * p<0.05 or ▪ p<0.01 compared to control. # p<0.05 compared to GCDCA-treated cells.