Casp9DN reduces ROS levels in primary thymocytes.

<p><b>A</b>) Representative histogram overlays of DHE stained viable thymocytes is shown. All cells were treated with or without Dex as indicated. Caspase activity was inhibited by either Casp9DN expression (red line, Casp9DN) or Q-VD-OPh treatment (blue line, WT+QVD) and compared to control cells (gray shaded, WT-wild type thymocytes). For the histogram overlay graphs, the viability of thymocytes was as follows; 24 h culture without Dex: 46% (WT), 56% (Casp9DN), and 69% (WT+QVD); 24 h culture with 1μM Dex: 7.5% (WT), 20% (Casp9DN), and 42% (WT+QVD). Quantitation of the percentage of cells with low DHE staining (gate shown in histograms) from the samples as indicated is shown in the bottom panel. The mean + SD of at least duplicate mice per group is shown. § p<0.05 versus the control. * p<0.01 versus the control. B) Representative histogram overlays of the MitoSOX Red stained viable thymocytes as indicated is shown. Data is representative of at least 3 independent animals. C) Representative histogram overlays of the DHE staining of the viable freshly isolated thymocytes from wild type mice (gray shaded, WT) and Lck-Casp9DN mice (red line, C9DN) is shown. The numbers are the percentage of cells found within the indicated gate for each sample. Quantitation of % DHE-Low population in freshly isolated thymocytes from mice of the indicated genotypes is shown. The mean + SD of at least 4 mice per group is shown.* p<0.005.