Figure 4.

Inhibition of CYP4A with HET0016 protects H9c2 cells from AGEs-induced apoptosis. (A) Apoptosis via TUNEL staining. Scale bar = 10 μm. (B) Relative apoptosis rates are represented as TUNEL-positive cells/DAPI-positive cells, n = 3. (C) Cell viability detected with cell counting kit 8. n = 10. (D–H) Protein expression of p-Akt, p-JNK, Bcl-xL, and c-caspase-3, n = 3. H9c2 cells at a density of 1 × 10⁵ cells per well were seeded on six-well plates and treated at the time of 90% confluence. HET0016 or vehicle in FBS-free media (2 μM) was added 1 h before exposure to 10 μM AGEs or BSA for 24 h. Con, control. Compared with the Con group, +p < 0.05, ++p < 0.01, +++p < 0.001; compared with the AGEs group, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 (one-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc).