Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 8 pp 11363—11380
Melatonin attenuates smoking-induced atherosclerosis by activating the Nrf2 pathway via NLRP3 inflammasomes in endothelial cells
Figure 6. Nrf2 upregulation improves endothelial cell viability and the expression of VEGF and eNOS. (A) The expression of VEGF proteins was measured by ELISA. (B) Effect of Nrf2 on cell growth of HAECs treated by CSE was analyzed by measuring cell viability. (C–E) The mRNA and protein level of eNOS were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ns, not significant, compared with CSE group. The data are represented as mean ± SD (n = 3).