01, and 0.83 ± 0.14, p < 0.05, respectively; Crizotinib cell line Fig. 6B). Similarly, on immunofluorescence observations, although

PFT showed no changes in cytochrome c expression when compared with control groups, marked increases in cellular expression were seen after incubation with DHA and these were attenuated by pretreatment with PFT ( Fig. 6C). Thus, PFT showed significant suppression of cytochrome c release from mitochondria to cytosol. In order to further investigate the mechanisms of cell death in our study, we examined whether there were any changes in ΔΨM resulting in the stimulation of mitochondrial cell death. We analyzed the effects on ΔΨM using the JC-10 dyes (Fig. 7). JC-10 is a membrane-permeable fluorescent dye used for the measurement of ΔΨM. In intact cells, JC-10 concentrates in the mitochondrial matrix where it forms orange fluorescent aggregates. However, in damaged cells, JC-10 diffuses out of mitochondria, changes to a monomeric form and stains cells to show green fluorescence. As shown in Fig. 7A, PFT increased aggregate (orange) forms, but not monomer (green) forms. The fluorescence intensity of aggregate forms was markedly higher after incubation for 1 h and persisted with incubation for up to 24 h, but there were no changes in monomer forms (see Supplementary data 2). In contrast to PFT-treated groups, DHA increased monomer forms, indicating see more mitochondrial dysfunction, as compared with control groups. Pretreatment with PFT partially blocked the increase

in monomer forms after incubation Selleckchem ZD1839 with DHA. On quantitative analysis of the ratio of aggregate/monomer (Fig. 7B), single incubation with DHA showed concentration- and time-dependent decreases in this ratio,

which indicates that DHA caused changes in ΔΨM and mitochondrial damage. Single treatment with PFT significantly increased the ratio to more than two-fold the levels seen in controls (p < 0.01), while DHA-induced decreases in the ratio were markedly attenuated by pretreatment with PFT after each incubation period. Thus, PFT blocked DHA-induced changes in ΔΨM. Early reports identified the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as one of the mechanisms of DHA-induced cytotoxicity (Arita et al., 2001 and Maziere et al., 1999). The transcriptional factor p53 plays a pivotal role in cell survival and induction of ROS. In our initial hypothesis, we assumed that DHA-induced cytotoxicity was mediated through p53 activation and the subsequent signal transductions. This was based on the notion that production of ROS and disruption of mitochondria, induced by several cytotoxic agents, is associated with p53 activation (Raha and Robinson, 2000). Our previous report showed that DHA-induced cytotoxicity was mediated by induction of ROS, and antioxidants inhibited the reduction of cell survival by DHA, but this cytotoxic mechanism was not based on changes in p53 mRNA expression, total levels or phosphorylation of p53 proteins in HepG2 cells following incubation with DHA (Kanno et al.