Fig. 3

Visualization of apoptosis in HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells after treatment (AO/EB dual staining) HepG2 cells were seeded onto 6 well plates at a density of 50,000 cells/well, treated with test compounds and stained with AO/EB dye after 48 h of treatment. The treatment groups are as follows: (a) Control or untreated HepG2 cells (b) Curcumin reference group (4 μg/mL) (c) EP. DEE (15 μg/mL) (d) EP. DEE (30 μg/mL). Arrows in the figure are directed towards the apoptotic bodies, that exhibited bright yellowish-green fluorescence. Condensed chromatin was observed in all treated groups. Control group cells showed normal morphological features with undamaged cell membrane. e Graph depicting number of apoptotic cells in different treatment groups. *P value > 0.05 when compared to control group. Columns with different superscripts differ significantly (P > 0.05). EP. DEE- Diethyl ether fraction