Fig. 3
Artemisinin cytoprotective effects towards H2O2-induced apoptosis in BMSCs. After the pretreatment with artemisinin (1.0 μM) or DMSO (0.1%, vehicle control) for 1 h, BMSCs were exposed to 200 μM H2O2 for another 24 h. a Cell apoptosis was measured by using nuclear DNA Hoechst staining observed by fluorescence microscopy to detect changes in cell nuclei y (n = 3). b The apoptotic and total cells were analyzed by Image J software, and the apoptosis rate was presented as % of the total number of nuclei (n = 3). c The apoptotic cell death of BMSCs was analyzed by Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, detected by FACS (n = 3), and quantified by the apoptosis rate (d) (n = 3). e The activity of caspase 3 was measured by caspase 3 activity assay (n = 3). ***p < 0.005. CTRL, control; ART, artemisinin; H2O2, exposed to hydrogen peroxide only; ART + H2O2, treated with artemisinin followed by exposure to hydrogen peroxide