Figure 4

Analysis of apoptosis in renal tissues post burn. TUNEL staining revealed increased numbers of apoptotic cells at 6, 24, and 72 h post burn, whereas corresponding reductions in the time-paired groups were observed with the regular administration of HS (a) (vs Sham, magnification ×200). The quantitative assessment of the numbers of apoptotic cells is shown (b). In addition, cleaved caspase-3 protein expression, as a marker of apoptotic activation, revealed significant gradual elevations over time, and HS markedly down-regulated cleaved caspase-3 expression (c–f). The sample size was n = 5 for TUNEL staining and n = 6 for Western blotting for each group. The results were expressed as the means ± SEMs. **p < 0.01, vs Burn + saline; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, vs Sham.