Figure 2.

Palmitic acid-induced the apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). VSMCs are incubated with various concentrations of palmitic acid (PA) for 24 h, 48 h or 72 h, and the cell viability was examined by CCK8 assay. (A) Cells are treated with vehicle, 0.2 mM PA, 0.4 mM PA or 0.8 mM PA for 48 h; (B) The percentage of apoptotic cells is also analyzed by flow cytometric analysis of annexin V/PI double staining and (C) the percentage of apoptotic cells (at the right of pictures). (D) Cells are treated with PA (80 mM) for 48 h, RNA expression of HIF 1alpha-antisense RNA 1 (HIF1a-AS1) in VSMCs is measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM, n=3 in each group. *P < 0.05, versus untreatment group.