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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Sep 4.
Published in final edited form as: Anesth Analg. 2019 May;128(5):1013–1021. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000004058

Figure 4.

Figure 4.

Suppression of natural killer (NK) cytotoxic function with different classes of opioids. The cytolytic function of NK cells was determined by measuring the percentage of apoptotic K562 cells in experimental wells (white bars) stained with annexin V compared to the percentage in positive control wells containing NK cells and K562 target cells without any drug treatment (=100 % apoptosis, black bar). The gray bars indicate NK cell function after incubation with 100 ng/mL naloxone and subsequent incubation with a specific opioid agonist. Data are from 5 independent experiments conducted with NK cells from 5 separate donors in triplicate for each data point. n = 5; mean and upper limit of 95% CI are represented. Adjusted P values are reported. DAMGO indicates [D-Ala2, N-MePhe4, Gly-ol]-enkephalin; DPDPE, [D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin.