Paeoniflorin Attenuates Dexamethasone-Induced Apoptosis of Osteoblast Cells and Promotes Bone Formation via Regulating AKT/mTOR/Autophagy Signaling Pathway

Figure 2

Effect of paeoniflorin on DEX-induced apoptosis in MC3T3-E1 cells. (a, b) The extent of apoptosis of MC3T3-E1 cells was detected by flow cytometry after Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining. The apoptotic rate was measured by flow cytometric analysis. Data are presented as the mean ± SD.  < 0.01 vs. control;  < 0.05 vs. DEX. (c) MC3T3-E1 cells were stained by Hoechst to show the extent of apoptosis after interventions of DEX and paeoniflorin. (d) The expressions of osteogenic protein-Runx2 (runt-related transcription factor2) and apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 (B cell leukemia 2) and Bax (BCL2-associated X protein) were measured by western blot. < 0.05,  < 0.01 vs. control;  < 0.05 vs. DEX;  < 0.01 vs. DEX. (e) Protein levels of caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-3 were determined by western blot analysis, shown in quantitative analysis. Data are presented as the mean ± SD.  < 0.01 vs. control;  < 0.05 vs. DEX.

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