Figure 5.

Protective effect of SKF and VC on mitochondrial dysfunction induced by tetrandrine. Rat hepatocytes were incubated with 25 μmol/L Tet, 10 μmol/L SKF and 1 mmol/L VC. (A) The effect of VC and SKF on tetrandrine-induced ATP depletion. Samples were taken at the indicated time points and assayed for ATP levels. (B) Effect of VC and SKF on mitochondrial membrane potential depletion induced by tetrandrine. (C) The activity of caspase 3 in the presence of tetrandrine and SKF. Caspase 3 activity was measured in rat primary hepatocytes at time-points up to 8 h. ^bP<0.05, ^cP<0.01 vs 'Tet' group at each time point. SKF, SKF-525A, a nonspecific inhibitor of CYP450. All results are presented as the mean±SD. n=3.