Apoptotic cell death needs the presence of TNFα and hTASK3 potassium channel.
a, images representing the annexin V-GFP fluorescence (apoptotic cells; left), the dsRED fluorescence (transfected cells, middle), and the two images merged (right). i, dsRED cell transfection; ii, dsRED cell transfection with 15-h TNFα treatment; iii, dsRED and hTASK3 cells co-transfection; iv, dsRED and hTASK3 cells co-transfection with 15-h TNFα treatment. The scale bar represents 50 μm in all of the images. b, percentage of apoptotic cell death is represented by the annexin V (green) interacting with membrane apoptotic markers. TASK3/dsRED- and dsRED-transfected cells were treated with TNFα (two-way ANOVA; NS, p > 0.05; ***, p < 0.001).