Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 16 pp 11857—11876

Figure 6. Circ_0006476 participates in nicotine-induced apoptosis. (A) Volcano plot displaying circ_0006476 expression. (B) Representative qPCR results indicating the reduced expression of circ_0006476 following siRNA-mediated circ_0006476 knockdown. (C) qPCR analysis of the impact of circ_0006476 knockdown on the expression of apoptosis-related genes. (D) Hoechst staining of THP-1 macrophages (bright blue represents the apoptotic cell nucleus) (scale bar: 50 μm). (E) TUNEL assay to assess apoptosis-positive THP-1 macrophages (green fluorescence indicates apoptotic cells) (scale bar: 50 μm). (F) The interaction between circ_0006476 and DLL4 was detected by WB combined with RNA pulldown. (G) WB analysis showing the effects of circ_0006476 knockdown on apoptosis and Notch signalling pathway-related proteins. (n = 3. The data are presented as the mean ± SD. ^*P < 0.05 and ^**P < 0.01 vs. the control group; ^#P < 0.05 and ^##P < 0.01 vs. the nicotine group).