Figure 3.

β-Elemene triggers apoptosis and significantly enhances cisplatin-induced apoptosis of human bladder cancer cells, as assessed by a DNA fragmentation assay. 5637 or T-24 cells were treated with β-elemene (Ele)-alone (A), cisplatin (Cis)-alone, or cisplatin plus β-elemene (40 μg/ml) (B) for 24 and 48 h. Cellular apoptosis was determined based on DNA fragmentation detected with an ELISA-based cell death detection kit, as described in the Materials and Methods. The results are expressed as the means±SD of six independent experiments. (A) β-Elemene-alone treatment. *p<0.05 vs. untreated control of corresponding cell line at the respective time points. (B) Cisplatin-alone and cisplatin + β-elemene treatments. *p<0.05 vs. untreated control of corresponding time point and vs. cisplatin alone at the respective concentrations. ELISA: enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.