Fig. 3: Autophagy is required for pterostilbene (PT)-induced cell death.

a Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells were treated with PT (100 μM) in the presence or absence of the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA), and the protein expression levels were assessed using Western blot analysis. β-Actin was employed as an internal control. b Cell viability was measured using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. c Formation of acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs) was observed under a fluorescence microscope. d Quantitative analysis of acridine orange (AO)-stained cells using a flow cytometer. e Huh-7 cells were treated with PT (100 μM) in the presence or absence of si-LC3 for 24 h, followed by Western blot analysis with β-actin serving as an internal control. f Cell viability was measured using an MTT assay. Data are presented as mean ± standard error for three experiments. **p < 0.01 compared with controls. #p < 0.01 compared with PT treatment alone