Effect of embelin and SMAC-N7-Ant peptide on cellular apoptosis.

<p>(<b>A</b>) A549 cells were treated with 15 µM embelin for different time intervals. Following the termination of treatments, caspase-3 activity was measured as indicated in the “Materials and Methods” section. (<b>B</b>) A549 cells were treated with 15 µM embelin for 4h and stained with Annexin-V/FITC and propidium iodide as described in the “Materials and Methods” section. Fluorescence images were captured using an Olympus–IX71 inverted fluorescence microscope equipped with FITC and rhodamine filter settings. Representative images from three different fields of view are shown. (<b>C</b>) Cells were treated with an XIAP inhibitor, SMAC-N7-Ant peptide (100 µM) for 8h. Later, caspase-3 and -9- activities were measured using the tetra-peptide substrates as described under “Materials and Methods” section. For both (<b>A</b>) and (<b>C</b>) data presented are the mean ± SD of three separate experiments. **indicates p<0.01 and * indicates p<0.05 as compared with controls.