Ulinastatin Ameliorates IL-1β-Induced Cell Dysfunction in Human Nucleus Pulposus Cells via Nrf2/NF-κB Pathway

Figure 3

Biological effect of UTI on IL-1β-induced apoptosis in human NP cells. (a, b) Protein bands and quantification of expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, and cleaved caspase 3 in IL-1β-induced NP cells. Bax/Bcl-2 ratios were calculated (). (c) Effect of UTI with indicated concentrations on cell viability of IL-1β-induced NP cells (). (d) Hoechst staining was used to conduct analysis of the nuclear morphology. . (e, f) The rates of apoptosis of human NP cells as determined by flow cytometry (). (g, h) Protein bands and quantification of expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, and cleaved caspase 3 in IL-1β-induced NP cells cotreated with UTI. Bax/Bcl-2 ratios were calculated (). (i, j) The JC-1 monomers (red) and JC-1 aggregates (green) were detected by the fluorescent probe JC-1, and the ratios of JC-1 aggregate/monomer were calculated. . , , , . indicated the comparison between group IL-1β and group control. ^#, ^##, ^###, ^####. ^#indicated the comparison between group IL-1β and group UTI+IL-1β.

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