Pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects of PFT in human control PA-SMCs.

<p>A: Growth of PA-SMCs in response to increasing doses of PFT (1, 10, 50 μM), evaluated by MTT assays. Values are means ± SEM of 4 experiments. *** p<0.001 vs. corresponding Base (Dunnett post-tests). B: Illustrations of the morphological protective effect of increasing doses of PFT (1 μM: image C, 10 μM: image D, 50 μM: image E) against cellular death induced by etoposide (image B). Image A = non treated condition. Scale bar: 37,5 μm. C: Effect of PFT treatment (50 μM) on PA-SMCs apoptosis induced by H2O2 (150 μM) evaluated by TUNEL assays. The ratio of TUNEL positives cells / total cells was calculated on each picture (24 pictures (from 6 different patients) in basal condition and 16 pictures (from 4 different patients) in H₂O₂ condition) and values are means ± SEM (expressed in percentages).** p<0.01; *** p<0.001; ****p<0.0001 (unpaired t-tests). D: Representative images of apoptosis assays with red TUNEL staining and blue DAPI staining. Images A and C illustrate the solvent conditions, respectively without and with 150 μM H202 treatment. Images B and D illustrate the 50 μM PFT conditions, respectively without and with 150 μM H202 treatment. Scale bars: 50 μm.