Fig. 5
Artemisinin decreased intracellular ROS level but increased SOD, CAT, and GPx activities treated with H2O2. BMSCs were pretreated with 1.0 μM artemisinin or 0.1% DMSO (vehicle control) for 1 h, followed by 24-h exposure to 200 μM H2O2. a Fluorescent visualization of ROS production in rat BMSCs using the CellROX® Deep Red fluorescence imaging. Cells were incubated with reagent for 60 min after treatments. H2O2-treated cells displayed red fluorescence, indicating increased ROS production (n = 3). b The quantitative analysis of the intracellular ROS level. Bars show the average percent of fluorescent positive cells out of total cell number (n = 3). ***p < 0.005. c The relative SOD activity (n = 3), *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. d The relative CAT activity (n = 3), *p < 0.05. e The relative GPx activity (n = 3), *p < 0.05. CTRL, control; ART, artemisinin; H2O2, exposed to hydrogen peroxide only; ART + H2O2, treated with artemisinin followed by exposure to hydrogen peroxide