Fig. 4

The effect of liraglutide on Ishikawa cell apoptosis measured by flow cytometry. a Apoptosis was detected by annexin-V and PI double staining. The proportion of early apoptotic cells increased after liraglutide treatment in a dose-dependent manner compared with control cells. A representative apoptosis analysis result is shown. b The results of three independent experiments were quantified. Our results demonstrated that the proportion of early apoptotic cells increased after liraglutide treatment in a dose-dependent manner compared with control cells (* p <  0.05; ANOVA). Comparison between control cells and liraglutide (1000 nM) + 1 mM AICAR, and between liraglutide (1000 nM) and liraglutide (1000 nM) + 1 mM AICAR were statistically significant (* p <  0.05; t-test). c We also found that the proportion of cells arrested in S phase was significantly higher in cells treated with liraglutide than in control cells. The results are expressed as the percentage of cells in each phase of the cell cycle (G2/M, S, G0/G1). The results are shown as the mean of three independent experiments (* p < 0.05; t-test)