Figure 3.

Effect of daidzein on hepatocyte apoptosis in Con A-induced hepatitis. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with daidzein (200 mg/kg) for 3 days before Con A (15 mg/kg, i.v.) administration, and liver samples were collected 12 h after Con A challenge. (A,B) Liver tissue sections were stained for cleaved caspase-3 by immunofluorescence, and the positive area (percentage) was determined (original magnification 200×). (C,D) TUNEL staining was performed, and the percentage of positive cells was calculated (original magnification 400×). (E-H) The expression of Bax and Bcl-2 was determined by western blotting and densitometric analysis of the Bax/β-actin, Bcl-2/β-actin, and Bcl-2/Bax ratios are shown. The results represent the means from at least 3 independent experiments. Data are shown as the mean ± SD (n=4 per group). ***P<0.001 vs. the control group; ^#P<0.05, ^##P<0.01, and ^###P<0.001 vs. the Con A group. TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) dUTP nick-end labeling.