Fig. 5

Involvement of caspase in mesogenic compound-induced cell death. a–b A549 cells were preincubated with Z-VAD-fmk for 1 h and then cultured in the presence of 10 μM C1 for 48 h or C2 for 72 h. Cells were then harvested, and analyses of active caspase-3 expression and sub-G1 fractions were performed. a Representative histograms of three different experiments are shown, and inset numbers indicate percentages of active caspase-3-positive cells. Z-VAD indicates Z-VAD-fmk. b Sub-G1 fractions are presented as mean ± SE of 4 independent experiments. * indicates p < 0.05. c–d H1299 cells were preincubated with Z-VAD-fmk for 1 h and then cultured in the presence of 10 μM C1 or C2 for 72 h. Cells were then harvested, and analyses of active caspase-3 expression and sub-G1 fractions were performed. c Representative histograms of two different experiments are shown, and inset numbers indicate percentages of active caspase-3-positive cells. d Sub-G1 fractions are presented as mean ± SE of 3 independent experiments. * indicates p < 0.05