α-Lipoic Acid-Plus Ameliorates Endothelial Injury by Inhibiting the Apoptosis Pathway Mediated by Intralysosomal Cathepsins in an In Vivo and In Vitro Endothelial Injury Model

Figure 4

Changes in cathepsin B/D, cleaved caspase-3, and Bax after DFO and LAP treatments under HUVEC injury conditions. (a, b) Western blot showing cathepsin B/D, cleaved caspase-3, and Bax expression levels in HUVECs. (c–f) The mean values of the protein levels of cathepsin B/D, cleaved caspase-3, and Bax in the control group were normalized to 1.0. (g, i) IF analysis was performed using cathepsin B/D antibodies (green), and the nuclei were fluorescently labeled with DAPI (blue). (h, j) The mean value of the fluorescence intensity of the control group was normalized to 1.0. Scale bar, 100 μm. Data are shown as the . vs. Control group; ^#P <0.05, ^##P <0.01, ^###P <0.001 vs. OxyHb group; vs. OxyHb+DFO group; .

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