Research Article

Simvastatin Mitigates Apoptosis and Transforming Growth Factor-Beta Upregulation in Stretch-Induced Endothelial Cells

Figure 2

Apoptosis of ECs induced by stretch via reactive oxygen species (ROS). (a) Intracellular ROS in ECs treated by nonstretch, 20% stretch, 20% stretch+N-acetyl-cysteine (5 mM), 20% stretch+gp91ds-tat (5 μM), 20% stretch+MitoTEMPO (10 μM), and 20% stretch+simvastatin (1 μM) and measured by 2,7-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate. (b) Mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by a JC-1 probe; the ratio of red to green fluorescence decreased in ECs under 20% stretch. (c–e) The mRNA expression levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 2 (NOX2) and NOX4 were measured using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis in ECs under 20% stretch; the protein level of NOX2 was detected by performing Western blot. (f) Antiapoptotic and proapoptotic proteins of ECs pretreated with or without NAC under 20% stretch were evaluated by performing Western blot. .
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