Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 2 pp 2822—2850

Figure 3. shRac1 and shP67 transfection reduce cell death/apoptosis. (A, B) Quantification of pro-apoptotic (p-JNK, JNK, Bax) and anti-apoptotic (p-AKT, AKT, Bcl-2) protein expressions in shRac1 and shLuci BMMSCs post-OGD 12 h. β-actin was used as the housekeeping protein. (N.S. no significance, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, statistically analyzed by the Student’s t-test, n = 4). (C, D) Pro-apoptotic (p-JNK, JNK, and Bax) and anti-apoptotic (p-AKT, AKT, and Bcl-2) protein expressions in shP67 and shLuci BMMSCs post-OGD 12 h, β-actin was used as the housekeeping protein. (N.S. no significance, *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001, statistically analyzed by the Student’s t-test, n = 4). (E–H) p53 expression and activation as reflected by total and phospho-p53 protein expressions. In shRac1- and shP67-transfected BMMSCs post-OGD treatment, p53 expression and activity were found to be decreased. (N.S. no significance, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, statistically analyzed by the Student’s t-test, n = 4). (I–M) Flow cytometry measured apoptosis of shLuci, shRac1, shP67 BMMSCs and wild type BMMSCs. In comparison with shLuci, shP67 and wild type BMMSCs, shRac1 BMMSCs showed better anti-apoptotic ability. (N.S. no significance, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni correction, n = 3). Data are presented as mean ± SD.