Fig. 1.

Glucose and palmitic acid induces apoptosis in HKC-8 cells. a HKC-8 cells were treated with glucose (0, 10, 20, and 30 mmol/l) for 24 h. The cleaved PARP and BAX expressions were dose-dependently increased, but Bcl-2 expression was decreased with high-glucose treatment. b Flow cytometry measurements showed that high-glucose treatment induced HKC-8 cell apoptosis. c The apoptotic cells in (b) were quantified. d HKC-8 cells were treated with palmitic acid (PA; 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 mmol/l) as an injury factor for 24 h. The cleaved caspase-3 expression was increased, but Bcl-2 expression was decreased in a dose-dependent manner. e Flow cytometry measurements showed that PA treatment induced HKC-8 cell apoptosis. f The apoptotic cells in (e) were quantified. Bars are means ± S.E. from three independent experiments. *P  < 0.05, **P  < 0.01