Figure 6.

PUMA-mediated apoptosis depended on mitochondrial apoptotic signaling in PHG. (a) Portal hypertension significantly induced PUMA (red) expression and mucosal apoptosis (green) in gastric mucosal tissues of PVL mice. Cell nuclei (blue) were counterstained by DAPI ( × 200). (b) Mitochondrial and cytosolic fractions were analyzed for Bax, Bak and cytochrome c by western blotting (n=3 in each group). β-Actin and Cox IV were markers of cytosolic and mitochondrial fractions, respectively. (c and e) Gastric mucosal cleaved caspase-9 and cleaved caspase-3 expression was evaluated by western blotting in both PVL mice and PHG patients (n=3 in each group). β-Actin was used as the loading control. (d and f) The ratio of densitometry units of cleaved caspase-9/β-actin and cleaved caspase-3/β-actin was represented in both PVL mice and PHG patients. The values are expressed as the means±S.D. (n=3 in each group) for western blotting