Figure 4

Effect of Pt in HUVEC apoptosis evaluated by TUNEL assay. a) The percentage of apoptotic cells was evaluated by the ratio between TUNEL-stained cells and DAPI-stained nuclei in every culture. Increased percentage of apoptotic cells was observed after incubation with 8 μM Pt. Results are expressed as percentage of control cells. Bars represent mean ± SD. Assays were repeated five times and performed in triplicate. Statistical differences between groups were evaluated by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA test) followed by the Dunnet test. *p < 0.01 vs. Control. b) Apoptotic HUVEC representative photomicrographs stained with DAPI and detected by TUNEL assay after Pt treatment. Incubation with 8 μM Pt resulted in increased apoptosis determined as the percentage of positive cells per 1000 DAPI-stained nuclei. Glass coverslips were visualized under a fluorescence microscope (Nikon Eclipse 50i) at a magnification of 200×.