Effects of melatonin on the apoptotic death of tubular cells in AAN. (A) Representative images of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-tediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining. Scale bar: 25 μm. (B) Number of TUNEL-stained cells. (C) Representative images of immunohistochemical staining using anti-cleaved caspase-3 antibody. Scale bar: 25 μm. (D) Percentage of cleaved caspase-3 positive area per field. (E) Western blot images of the expression of cleaved caspase-3, cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1), p53, Bax, and GAPDH in kidneys. The graphs show densitometric quantification of cleaved caspase-3 (F), cleaved PARP-1 (G), p53 (H), and Bax (I) normalized against GAPDH. n = 8 per group. All data are presented as the mean ± SEM. *** p < 0.001 vs. Veh. #
p < 0.05 and ###
p < 0.001 vs. AA.