Figure 4.

Chalcones induced laddering and nuclear condensation of HepG2 cells a process that requires caspase activity. (a) Cells were treated with CH1 and CH2 (50 μM) for 24 h and preincubated with zVAD (50 μM) for 2 h (case +), when the cells were incubated in the absence of inhibitor (case -), typical laddering indicative of apoptosis was observed. DMSO was used as control positive of laddering; (b) HepG2 (i–iii) and HepM (iv–vi) cells were treated with vehicle (i,iv), CH1 (ii,v) and CH2 (iii,vi) for 24 h. Cells were stained with DAPI (blue) and the arrow indicated nuclear condensation. Bar scale represents 10 μm.