Research Article

Andrographolide, a Novel NF-κB Inhibitor, Induces Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Apoptosis via a Ceramide-p47phox-ROS Signaling Cascade

Figure 2

The role of ROS in andrographolide-reduced cell viability in rat VSMCs. (a) Rat VSMCs were treated with 50  M andrographolide for the indicated periods. Cells were harvested, and the formation of ROS was examined using flow cytometric analysis of DCF-DA-stained cells, as described in Section 2. (b) Cells were pretreated with a vehicle or 1 mM NAC for 30 min before being treated with 50  M andrographolide for 48 h; cell viability was subsequently determined using an MTT assay. The results shown are representative of 4 independent experiments. The data are presented as the mean ± SEM (error bars: ** and *** , compared with the control group, and ### , compared with the group treated only with andrographolide).
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