Curcumin in Combination with Aerobic Exercise Improves Follicular Dysfunction via Inhibition of the Hyperandrogen-Induced IRE1α/XBP1 Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Pathway in PCOS-Like Rats

Figure 5

Curcumin alleviates DHT-induced ER stress and apoptosis. DHT-induced GCs were treated with different concentrations of curcumin or 4μ8C. (a) Cell viability of granulosa cells after curcumin and irisin treatment was analyzed by CCK-8 kits. (b) Representative flow cytometry scatter plots of propidium iodide (PI) ( axis) vs. Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) ( axis). (c–f) Levels of p-IRE1α and CHOP in GCs with curcumin treatment were measured by immunofluorescence staining (60x). (g, h) The expression of IRE1α, p-IRE1α, XBP1, GRP-78, and CHOP was assessed by western blot assay. (i, j) The expression of cleaved-caspase-12, Bax, and cleaved-caspase-3 was assessed by western blot assay. Three independent experiments were performed with similar results. Data are shown as . . vs. Ctrl. ^## vs. DHT/TM.

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