Figure 2.

Astaxanthin (AST) inhibited blue light light-emitting diode (LED)-induced 661W cell apoptosis. The 661W cells were exposed to 2000 lx blue light LED for 24 h after being treated with various concentrations of AST for 1 h. (a) Apoptotic cells detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotinide end labeling (TUNEL). Nuclei were counterstained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). Ctrl: control group—no AST or blue light LED exposure. (b) Number of TUNEL-positive cells were counted in at least four randomly chosen views, represented as columns. (C: control group. All data represent mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 compared to the AST-untreated blue light LED exposed group; Kruskal–Wallis test with post hoc Dunn test; N = 3 in each group.) (c) Evaluation of the relative mRNA expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2)/Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). (All data represent mean ± SD. *** p < 0.001 compared to the AST-untreated blue light LED exposed group by ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test; N = 5 in each group.) (d) Evaluation of the protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax by Western blot analysis. β-actin was used as the internal control. (e) Relative protein expression of Bcl-2/Bax. (All data represent mean ± SD. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 compared to the AST-untreated blue light LED exposed group by Kruskal–Wallis test with post hoc Dunn test; N = 4 per group.)