Table 2.

Effect of ouabain on caspase 3 activity and chromatin cleavage in human (HASMC, HUVEC) and rat (RASMC, RAEC) cells

Type of cells	Ouabain, μM	Caspase-3, nmol/mg prot/min	Chromatin cleavage1), %
HASMC	0	1.01±0.22	4±2
	3	7.59±1.10**	25±6*
HUVEC	0	0.56±0.07	3±1
	3	3.12±0.31***	21±4**
RASMC	0	0.78±0.17	6±2
	3000	0.67±0.09	5±1
RAEC	0	0.33±0.08	3±1
	3000	0.51±0.15	5±2

Cells were incubated in DMEM medium with or without ouabain for 24 hr.

¹⁾The total content of [3H]-labelled DNA was taken as 100%. The means ± S.E. from experiments performed in triplicate (caspase-3 activity) or quadruplicate (cell detachment and chromatin cleavage) are given.

^*, - p<0.05, respectively, as compared to ouabain-untreated cells.

^**, - p<0.01, respectively, as compared to ouabain-untreated cells. and

^***- p<0.001, respectively, as compared to ouabain-untreated cells.