Research Article

Nicotinic Agonist Inhibits Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis in CVB3-Induced Myocarditis via α3β4-nAChR/PI3K/Akt-Dependent Survivin Upregulation

Figure 4

A nicotinic agonist promotes cell viability at low concentrations and protects NRC from CVB3-induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. After being stimulated by CVB3 for 2 h, different concentrations of freshly dissolved nicotine were added to NRC for 36 h in 10% FBS medium before the TUNEL assay. The MTT assay was performed after treatment by nicotine (0, 0.1, 1, 10, 100, 1000, 104, and 105μM) for 36 h, and no groups had CVB3 infection. (a) Photomicrographs (×100) of apoptotic cells. (b) Quantitative analysis of the number of TUNEL-positive cells. vs. the CVB3-infected group. (c) MTT assay assessing cell viability of NRC treatment with different concentrations of nicotine. vs. the control group.
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