Figure 2.

Simvastatin (20 mg/kg/day) significantly inhibits radiation-induced apoptosis in the bone marrow of C57BL/6 mice. Bone marrow samples were procured from the femur 7 days following exposure to 4 Gy radiation and stained with H&E (A). The magnification was ×4 and ×10. All bone marrow cells except red blood cells from femurs were stained with Annexin V/PI for the determination of apoptosis. (B) Representative flow charts and (C) statistics showed that the number of apoptotic cells was significantly higher in the radiated mouse bone marrow, which was significantly attenuated by simvastatin treatment. Values are presented as the means ± SEM (n=7, ^**P<0.01 vs. C group; ^##P<0.01 vs. R group). C, control; S, simvastatin; R, ionizing radiation; RS, radiation + simvastatin.