Figure 3

Flow cytometry analysis of apoptosis in different cell lines. Flow cytometry was used to assess changes in the rate of apoptosis in the primary hepatocytes and other different cell lines with NH₄Cl treatment. (A) The results showed that the apoptosis rates in the hyperammonia group of primary hepatocytes (24.7 ± 1.71) were significantly greater than those in the control group (3.1 ± 0.71). while The hyperammonia groups of HepG2.2.15 (0 mM 3.73 ± 0.47; 20 mM: 6.60 ± 0.36) and HepG2 cells (0 Mm: 4.07 ± 0.76; 20 mM: 6.03 ± 0.76) showed increased rates, but they were less than those in the primary hepatocytes. The apoptosis in the other cell lines with hyperammonia (9706: 0 mM 6.7 ± 0.91; 20 mM: 4.9 ± 0.51; A549: 0 mM 3.63 ± 0.40; 20 mM: 3.40 ± 0.70; MCF-7: 0 mM 3.57 ± 0.35; 20 mM: 3.53 ± 0.86; SKOV3: 0 mM 4.47 ± 0.75; 20 mM: 4.60 ± 1.23; BCG-823: 0 mM: 3.2 ± 0.36; 20 mM: 3.83 ± 0.45) showed no difference. (B) Flow cytometry revealed that the apoptotic hepatocytes in the hyperammonia group were increased compared with the control group, especially when the concentrations of NH₄Cl were 0.5 and 20 mmol/L. In addition, there were no significant differences among the HCl groups. For all experiments, each value indicates the mean ± SEM normalized by the control. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01, one way ANOVA.