Fig. 6

Cytoprotective effect of CA treatment on HepG2 cells pretreated with (a) HO-1- and GCL-specific inhibitors; and (b) JNK-, ERK, and p38-specific inhibitors. Except for the control, in which cells were not exposed to any chemical or inhibitor, cells were either pretreated with 50 μM of HO-1- or GCL-, or 10 μM of JNK-, ERK or p38-specific inhibitors for 1 h — or not exposed to an inhibitor at all— then treated with 20 μM CA for 24 h —or not exposed to CA at all. Cells were washed twice with PBS solution and treated with 0.3 mM t-BHP for 2 h. Cell viability was measured implementing the MTT assay. Values are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (n = 3). Different letters indicate signification differences at p < 0.05 by Tukey’s studentized range tests