Fig. 1

Corticosterone-induced apoptosis in cortical neurons. A Cell viability was measured after treatment with 50–500 μM corticosterone for 24 h in primary cultured cortical neurons. n = 6. B Expression of total or cleaved Caspase-3 expression was detected by immunoblot in corticosterone-treated cells. C Quantitative analysis was showed on cleaved Caspase 3 per total caspase 3 protein expression. n = 4. D Fluorescence imaging of TUNEL staining after corticosterone treated-cortical neurons. Scale bar = 50 μm E Quantitative analysis was performed for TUNEL positive cells. n = 4 Statistical significance was determined by ANOVA with Bonferroni correction test. Data are shown as relative changes versus controls. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001