Fig. 4

Induction of HO-1 attenuates the pro-apoptotic effects of Cd. HepG2 cells were either exposed to 5 and 10 μM CdCl₂ for 24 h or pre-treated with 10 μM CoPPIX for 24 h before treated with 5 and 10 μM CdCl₂ for 24 as described in the Materials and methods. (A) Whole cell extracts caspase 3 protein (B) Mitochondrial Bax protein and (C) Cytosolic cytochrome c protein expressions were analyzed by western blot. Values are mean ± SD of three different experiments done in triplicate (n = 3). ^#p < 0.0001 as significant differences between Cd-treated and control. ***p < 0.0001, **p < 0.001 as significant differences between CoPPIX pre-treated and non pre-treated cells