Figure 6
The synergistic effect of PG or PD with simvastatin to enhance LDLR expression and LDL-C uptake. (A) HepG2 cells were treated with 1 μM simvastatin with or without 250 μg/mL PG and 2.5 μM PD for 24 h. Cell lysates were subjected to western blotting with anti-LDLR and anti-GAPDH antibodies. The intensity of LDLR protein was measured using Image J software and normalized to that of GAPDH control. Bar graph shows the mean ± SD from three independent experiments. *P < 0.05 by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. (B) HepG2 cells were treated with 1 μM simvastatin with or without 250 μg/mL PG and 2.5 μM PD for 24 h, followed by incubation with 5 μg/mL Bodipy FL dye-labeled LDL for 1 h and confocal microscopic imaging. Quantification of LDL fluorescence intensity per cells was analyzed using Image J software. DAPI (blue) was used for nuclear DNA staining. Bar graph represents the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05 by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test.
