Up-regulation of caspase3 by CAPE promotes hypoxia- and PDGF-BB-induced resistance to apoptosis human PASMCs. (A,B) Cells were pretreated in the absence of inhibitor or with CAPE (5 or 10 μM) for 2 h, and then were cultured for 24 h in normoxia (20%), hypoxia (3%), or PDGF-BB. Cell apoptosis as measured by TUNEL assay. Apoptosis rate was calculated as a percent of TUNEL-positive cells out of a total number of cells indicated by DAPI-positive staining for each microscopic field. (C) Cells were cultured for 6 h in normoxia (20%) or hypoxia (3%) with or without CAPE (5 or 10 μM). (D) Cells were pretreated with CAPE for 2 h, and then treated with or without PDGF-BB for 6 h. Procaspase-3 and activated caspase-3 protein expression was evaluated by Western blot. Values are the mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. * p < 0.05; *** p < 0.01, as compared with the control group. #
p < 0.05; ###
p < 0.01, as compared with the cells exposed to hypoxia or PDGF-BB.