Fig. 1
From: Dexamethasone induces apoptosis in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells
Dexamethasone increases caspase-3 immunohistochemistry scores in rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC) in vivo. Caspase-3 immunostaining was performed on rat lung resected at day 28 in (a) control rats showing caspase-negative PASMC (unfilled arrow) (magnification ×100), (b) monocrotaline (MCT)-treated rats showing caspase-negative PASMC (unfilled arrow) (b) and (c) (B and C, magnification ×200), MCT+ dexamethasone (5 mg/kg/day, days 14–28)-treated rats showing caspase-positive PASMC (filled arrow). Images are representative of n = 5 per group. Antibody-negative staining controls are shown in an untreated control rat (d, magnification ×100). Caspase-3 immunohistochemistry scoring was performed by an assessor blinded to the groups and presented as (e) percentage of caspase-3 positive PASMC over total PASMC and (f) the numbers of caspase-3-positive PASMC per mm2. Western blot analysis of cleaved caspase 3 in 3 independent lung samples from control untreated, MCT-treated and MCT + dexamethasone (MCT + Dex)-treated rats (g). Densitometric analysis of the data is shown in (h) with GAPDH used as a loading control. Results represent mean ± SEM of 5 rats per group compared using Student t test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001