Figure 6

Stimulation of Caspase 3 activity in human coronary artery endothelial cells by purified TNF-α. Cultured human coronary artery endothelial cells were incubated for 20 hours in the presence and absence of purified recombinant TNF-α and were then detached from the culture surfaces. Over the subsequent hour, the cells were incubated in suspension culture with membrane-permeable fluorescent substrates specific for Caspase 1 (CASP1) and Caspase 3 (CASP3). Data are expressed as substrate cleaved per 106 cells, relative to unstimulated control cultures (CTL). Bars are the mean + S.E.M. of at least three determinations; * = p < 0.05 versus unstimulated control (CTL) by ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keul's test.