Fig. 7.

Cell treatment with proNGF potentiates VPA-induced apoptosis. A SH-SY5Y cells grown onto glass coverslips were incubated for 24 h with either vehicle or 1 mM VPA and then exposed for additional 24 h to either vehicle or 5 ng/ml proNGF. Dead cells were identified by propidium iodide fluorescence (red color), whereas cell nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue color). Values are the mean ± SD of four experiments. Bar = 100 µm. B LAN-1 cells were grown, treated and analysed as indicated in A. C SH-SY5Y and LAN-1 cells were incubated for 24 h with either vehicle or 1 mM VPA and then exposed for 24 h to either vehicle or 5 ng/ml proNGF. Cell lysates were analysed for cleaved caspase (cleav casp) 9, procaspase (procasp) 9, cleaved caspase 3, procaspase 3, cleaved PARP and total PARP. Values are the mean ± SD of five independent experiments. D, E SH-SY5Y (D) and LAN-1 (E) cells grown onto glass coverslips were treated as indicated in C and then processed for cleaved caspase 3 immunofluorescence (green color) analysis. a = vehicle; b = proNGF; c = VPA; d = VPA + proNGF. Positive cells are expressed as percent of total cells. Values are the mean ± SD of four independent experiments. Bar = 50 µm. *p < 0.05 vs. vehicle. ^#p < 0.05 (Color figure online)