Fig. 1

DEX significantly inhibited OGD-induced hepatocyte apoptosis and inflammation. WRL-68 cells were pre-treated with DEX at the concentration of 0, 0.01, 0.1, 1 or 5 nM DEX for 1 h. Then, cells were cultured in OGD medium. a The survival rate of WRL-68 cells was tested by MTT assay. b Cell viability was tested by MTT assay. c The apoptosis of WRL-68 cells was assessed by flow cytometry. d The protein expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax in WRL-68 cells were tested by western blotting. The relative protein expressions were quantified via normalizing to GAPDH. e The levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α) in supernatants of WRL-68 cells were assessed by ELISA. *p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 and *** p < 0.001