Fig. 2.

Dex reduces TNF-α- and IFN-γ-stimulated mitochondrial damage and apoptosis of EGCs. A Assessment of apoptosis by Annexin-V/PI in EGCs after 48 h of Dex treatment examined by flow cytometry. Cells were considered to be in early apoptosis, that was stained with Annexin-V but not with PI (Annexin-V+/PI−), and cells that were stained with both (Annexin-V+/PI+) were considered to be necrotic or late apoptotic. Cells that were stained with PI alone or (Annexin-V−/PI+) were necrotic. At least 10,000 cells for each sample were analyzed in each experiment. B The changes of EGCs morphology observed by Hoechst 33,258 staining. C Detection of MMP in EGCs. D LC3-II/I ratio and protein expression of Atg5, p62, Bax, Bcl-2, caspase-3, and cleaved caspase-3 in the EGCs measured by Western blot analysis. *p < 0.05 vs. EGCs without any treatment; ^#p < 0.05 vs. EGCs treated with 50 ng/mL of TNF-α, 100 ng/mL of IFN-γ; ^&p < 0.05 vs. Dex group (EGCs treated with 50 ng/mL of TNF-α, 100 ng/mL of IFN-γ and 1 μM of Dex). Measurement data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Comparison among multiple groups was conducted by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. The cell experiment was repeated three times