Fig. 3

PPHs regulate ER calcium disturbance and apoptosis. a Cells were treated with 0.1 μM Tg (black) for 24 h in the presence or absence of 100 μg/mL PPHs (red), or PPHs alone (blue), and then loaded with 2 μM Fura-2/AM for 30 min at 37 °C. The fluorescence intensity of Fura-2/AM was then measured as described in Materials and Methods. b to (d) Cells were treated with 0.1 μM Tg for 24 h in the presence or absence of 2 μM BAPTA/AM or 100 μg/mL PPHs for 30 min. Apoptosis (b) was quantified based on nuclear condensation and fragmentation. Cells were stained with FITC-conjugated Annexin V and PI, followed by flow cytometric analysis (c). Caspase-12 (d) and −3 (e) activities were analyzed as described in Materials and Methods. ^*p < 0.05, significantly different from the Tg-treated condition. Tg, thapsigargin; PPHs, porcine placenta hydrolysates