Figure 2.
Effects of apelin-13 on rotenone-induced apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells. (A) The cells with fragmented nuclei were measured by Hochest 33258 staining. Rotenone-induced nuclear condensation was attenuated by apelin-13 pretreatment. Bar = 50 μm. (B) Statistical analysis. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01 compared with the control; ## p < 0.01 compared with the rotenone group. (C) Fluorometric assay of caspase-3 activity in cells treated with vehicle or apelin-13 (10−11 mol/L ~ 10−9 mol/L) prior to rotenone treatment for 24 h. Caspase-3 activity was increased in cells with rotenone treatment; however, this effect was attenuated by apelin-13 pretreatment. (D) Statistical analysis. Data are presented as mean ± SEM of three replications. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01 compared with Control; ## p < 0.01 compared with the rotenone group. (E–H) SH-SY5Y cells were treated with rotenone or pre-treated with apelin-13 (10−11 mol/L ~ 10−9 mol/L) prior to rotenone treatment for 24 h. Western blot was applied to detect the expression of Bcl-2, Bax, cleaved caspase-3. β-actin was used as a loading control. Apelin-13 pretreatment decreased the expression of Bax and cleaved caspase-3, while increased the expression of Bcl-2 in the rotenone-treated SH-SY5Y cells. Data are presented as mean ± SEM of three replications. ** p < 0.01 compared with the control; ## p < 0.01 compared with the rotenone group.