Figure 3.

Allicin treatment alleviated AOPP-induced human NP cell apoptosis. (a) The human NP cells were pretreated with various concentrations of allicin (0, 5, 10, and 20 μM) for 2 h, followed by stimulation with 400 μg/ml AOPP for 24 h. And the rate of cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC/PI dual staining. The proportion of apoptotic cells in the first and fourth quadrant was measured for analysis. (b–h) The protein levels of Bax, Bcl-2, c-caspase 3, c-caspase 9, mitochondrial Cyt-c, and cytoplasmic Cyt-c were determined using Western blotting analysis (b) and quantified in (c–h). (i) Representative images of immunofluorescence staining for cleaved caspase-3 in each group, with the relative fluorescence intensity quantified. Original magnification: ×400. Data were represented as mean ± SD. ^##p < 0.01 versus the control group; ^∗p < 0.05 and ^∗∗p < 0.01 versus the AOPP alone treatment group, n = 3.