Fig. 6

Effects of the combined treatment of RAPA and COE. The HepG2/mTOR⁺ cells were treated with 0.1%DMSO as solvent control, or 80 mg/L COE, or 100 nmol/L RAPA combined with 80 mg/L COE for 24 h. a and b the numbers of the HepG2/mTOR⁺ cells were observed under inverted microscope (100×). c the morphological changes were observed under transmission electron microscope (2950×, Scale, 1 μm); red arrows are representative of the apoptotic bodies. d and e the apoptosis was detected by Flow cytometry. f and g the proteins expression of Bcl-2, Bcl-2 L12, Bax, and Caspase-3 were examined by Western blots. h and i the proteins expression of mTOR, p-mTOR, 4E-BP1, p-4E-BP1, P70S6K, and p-P70S6K were accessed by Western blots. (^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001, COE + RAPA group compared with COE or RAPA alone; ^##P < 0.01, ^###P < 0.001, compared to the control)