Fig. 5

Effect of tanshinone IIA and ADM on the inhibition of VEGF/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in A549 cells. Figures are the expression levels of VEGF, VEGFR2, PI3K, p-PI3K, Akt, p-Akt, Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase-3, Cleaved Caspase-3, and GAPDH after 48 h treatment with 36 μM of tanshinone IIA and 1.5 μM of ADM alone or in combination (a). The statistical histogram shows the Relative optical density of the tested proteins by Image J (b, c, d). Representative images show the immunofluorescence detection of Cleaved Caspase-3. Cells were stained with an antibody that can recognize Cleaved Caspase-3 (green), and then stained with DAPI (blue) to visualize nuclei (e). The statistical analysis of relative fluorescence intensity shows the expression of Cleaved Caspase-3 in A549 cells (f). Data are presented as the means ± SD of three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, or ***P < 0.001 versus the vehicle control. (magnification, ×400, Scale bars, 50 μm)