Fig. 8: H₂S promotes cytokine-induced VSMC apoptosis.

Cleaved caspase 3 activity (a) and apoptosis (b) in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) treated or not (untreated; UT) for 48 h with 10 mM sodium thiosulfate (STS) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and/or tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), as indicated. Data are the mean ± SEM of 4 and 5 independent experiments, as indicated. P values as determined by matched (paired) mixed-effects model (REML). c Representative Western blot (left panels) and quantitative assessment (right panels) of BAX, BID, and BIM in VSMC treated or not (Ctrl) for 24 h with IL-6 + TNFα. Data are the mean ± SEM of 4 to 6 independent experiments, as indicated. P-values as determined by matched (paired) mixed-effects model (REML), followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons tests. Cleaved caspase 3 activity (d) and apoptosis (e) in VSMC treated or not (UT) for 48 h with 10 mM STS and interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) + TNFα or IL-1β + TNFα + IL-6, as indicated. Data are the mean ± SEM of 4 to 6 independent experiments, as indicated. P values as determined by matched (paired) mixed-effects model (REML), followed by Šídák’s multiple comparisons tests. f Representative Western blot (left panels) and quantitative assessment (right panels) of BAX, BID, and BIM in VSMC treated for 24 h with STS and IL-1β + TNFα + IL-6, as indicated. Data are the mean ± SEM of 4 to 6 independent experiments, as indicated. P values as determined by matched (paired) mixed-effects model (REML), followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons tests. Cleaved caspase 3 activity (g) and apoptosis (h) in VSMC knocked down for cystathionine gamma-lyase (CTH gene) using 2 distinct siRNAs (siCTH ¹ and ²) and treated or not (UT) for 48 h with IL-1β + TNFα or IL-1β + TNFα + IL-6, as indicated. Data are the mean ± SEM of 4 to 6 independent experiments, as indicated. P-values as determined by matched (paired) mixed-effects model (REML), followed by Dunnett’s multiple comparisons tests. i Representative Western blot (left panels) and quantitative assessment (right panels) of BAX, BID, and BIM in VSMC knocked down for CTH using 2 distinct siRNAs (siCTH ¹ and ²) and treated for 24 h with IL-1β + TNFα + IL-6 (3 cyt), as indicated. Data are the mean ± SEM of 4 to 6 independent experiments, as indicated. P values as determined by matched (paired) mixed-effects model (REML), followed by Dunnett’s multiple comparisons tests.