Figure 2.

The effect of SNP and/or S-Equol on cell cycle progression and apoptosis of primary chondrocytes. After cells were treated with S-Equol for 24 h in the presence or absence of SNP for another 24 h, (A) the cell cycle distribution was determined by flow cytometry and percentage of the subG1 phase was recognized as apoptotic cells; (B) apoptotic cells were also determined by TUNEL. The gray peak is vehicle control and the percentage of apoptotic cells of treated cells is shown in the figure. The results are expressed as the mean ± S.D. for three separate experiments, each in triplicate. * p < 0.05 compared to the untreated control. # p < 0.05 compared to the SNP treated group.