Fig. 3.

Emodin inhibited apoptosis and promoted autophagy of hippocampal neurons in SAE mice. a Apoptosis of hippocampal neurons was measured by TUNEL assay in different mice groups. The blue cells (indicate the normal cells) were marked by black arrows, and the brown cells (indicate the apoptotic cells) were marked by red arrows. b Protein levels of Bcl-2, Bax, and cleaved caspase-3 were detected by Western blot. c Western blot analyses showing LC3-II, LC3-I, and Beclin-1 levels and quantitative representation of LC3-II and Beclin-1 to GAPDH ratio. Each group had 6 mice. All experiments were repeated in triplicate. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. SAE, sepsis-associated encephalopathy; CLP, cecal ligation and puncture.