Figure 8.

Effects of fenofibrate on the expression of paraquat (PQ)-induced apoptosis-related proteins assessed by western blot analysis. RF/6A cells were pretreated with a high or low dose of fenofibrate for 1 h, then exposed to 1 mM PQ for 24 h. In GW6471 (GW) treated groups, the cells were incubated with 10 μM GW6471 for 1 h before fenofibrate treatment. (a) The expression levels of anti-apoptotic protease activating factor-1 (Apaf-1), cleaved caspase-9, caspase-7, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) are shown. The fold changes compared to those in control group are presented under the protein bands. β-actin was used as an internal control. (b) Caspase-3 activity. (** p < 0.01 between the control group and 1 mM PQ-stimulated group using Mann–Whitney U-test; # p < 0.05, ## p < 0.01 compared to only 1 mM PQ-stimulated group using Kruskal–Wallis test with post hoc Dunn’s test; † p < 0.05 between GW6471 treated group and fenofibrate treated group (the same concentration of fenofibrate) using Mann–Whitney U-test; n = 3 in each group.).