Fig. 5

Effect of melatonin on H₂O₂-induced cell damage in BMSCs. BMSCs pretreated with melatonin at different concentrations (50 and 100 μM) for 6 h were exposed to 400 μM H₂O₂ for another 24 h. The a cell viability (scale bar = 100 μm), b TUNEL⁺ cells (scale bar = 50 μm), and c Annexin V⁺/PI⁺-labeled cells are presented. Nuclei were labeled with DAPI. d Representative images of EdU-594⁺ cells are shown on microscope slides. Nuclei were labeled with DAPI. e Apoptosis regulatory elements, including the Bcl2, Bax, and cleaved Caspase-3 (C-Casp-3) proteins, were determined using western blotting. Cells treated with PBS served as a control group. Values are expressed as the mean ± SD (n = 3 independent experiments). ^*p < 0.05 compared with the control group. One-way ANOVA followed by the LSD test was used to analyze the significance of differences. Images are shown at the original magnification. C-Casp-3 (C-C-3), cleaved Caspase-3; Mel, melatonin; OD, optical density