Fig. 12. TiO2 NPs induced HepG2 cell apoptosis in vitro through a mitochondrial pathway regulated by αENaC. The expression levels of the apoptosis-related proteins caspase-3, the mitochondrial loading proteins SIRT3, VDAC1, and ACSS1 and the membrane channel protein αENaC in L02 and HepG2 cells were determined by western blotting. (A) In L02 cells, there was no obvious change in the levels of caspase-3, αENaC, SIRT3, VDAC1 and ACSS1. (B) In HepG2 cells, the levels of caspase-3, αENaC, SIRT3, and VDAC1 increased in a dose-dependent manner after co-culture with different concentrations of TiO2 NPs, whereas the level of ACSS1 decreased in a dose-dependent manner.
