Figure 2

Effect of BK3C231 pretreatment on the protein expression of cytoprotective enzymes namely NQO1 (a), GST (b), and HO-1 (c). Basal-level constitutive expressions of NQO1, GST and HO-1 were observed in untreated control cells and cells treated only with BK3C231. In cells treated only with 4NQO, the expression level of cytoprotective enzymes decreased as compared to that of untreated control. Pretreatment of cells with BK3C231 before 4NQO exposure significantly increased the protein expression of cytoprotective enzymes at 12 h and 24 h for NQO1; 6 h, 12 h and 24 h for GST; and 24 h for HO-1 as compared to that of cells treated with 4NQO only. Treated whole cell lysates were subjected to immunoblotting analysis to determine the protein expression level of NQO1, GST, and HO-1. Each data point was expressed as mean ± SEM from at least three independent experimental replicates. *p < 0.05 against 4NQO 1 h. The blots displayed in the figure are cropped. Full-length blots are presented in Supplementary Figure S2.