Figure 1

Apoptosis induced by 25-Hidroxicholesterol in the cell culture model. Cells were labeled with Annexin V-FITC and PI (propidiun iodide), and apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry. A, Representative scatter plots of PI (y-axis) versus Annexin V-FITC (x-axis). SMC-C (1), SMC-Ch (2), SMC-Ch-FO (3), SMC-C treated with 20 μg/ml 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC) for 24 h (4), SMC-Ch treated with 20 μg/ml 25-HC for 24 h (5), and SMC-Ch-FO treated with 20 μg/ml 25-HC for 24 h (6). Absence of both markers (lower left quadrants) indicates viable cells; PI positive alone (upper left quadrants) indicates cell necrosis, whereas Annexin V staining alone or together with PI (upper right and lower right quadrants) indicates of early- and late-stage apoptosis, respectively. B, Summary data of three experiments showing the % of annexin-V positive cells (upper right and lower right quadrants) in SMC cultures at baseline (SMC-C, SMC-Ch, and SMC-Ch-FO) and after 24-h treatment in vitro with 20 μg/ml 25-HC for 24 h. *P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 vs. SMC-C, +P < 0.05, ++P < 0.01, +++ P < 0.001 vs. SMC-C treated with 20 μg/ml 25-HC for 24 h.