Figure 4

Sustained gastrin treatment has an anti-apoptotic effect involving PKC-dependent mechanisms. Apoptosis was induced in AR42J cells by serum starvation for 72 h and measured using Caspase Glo 3/7 assay. A: Caspase activity in cells treated with gastrin. B: Caspase activity in untreated (U), sustained (S) or transiently (T) gastrin treated cells. C-D: Caspase activity in cells pretreated with inhibitors of PI3K (LY) or PKC (GF) before cultivating in the absence (U) or presence of gastrin in a sustained mode (S). The data were normalized to the median intensity of untreated cells in each independent experiment, and is shown as mean relative caspase 3/7 activity of three independent experiments (6 technical replicates in each independent experiment). Error bars represent 95% CI. * Bonferroni-adjusted p-value < 0.05; significant difference from untreated cells with or without inhibitor.