Fig. 7

Cleaved PARP protein expression and cell viability in normal and IPF fibroblasts. Transfected normal (a, c) and IPF (b, d) fibroblasts were treated with (+) or without (−) anti-FasL and cycloheximide for 6 hours (A and B). Results indicate that at 6 hours, the normal (Φ-siRNA (−/−), n = 13, Φ-siRNA (+/+), n = 16, siRNA-PG (−/−), n = 15 and siRNA-PG (+/+), n = 12) (a) and IPF (Φ-siRNA (−/−), n = 8, Φ-siRNA (+/+), n = 7, siRNA-PG (−/−), n = 7 and siRNA-PG (+/+), n = 4) (b) fibroblasts transfected with ɸsiRNA or siRNA-PG and treated (+/+) had significantly higher levels of cleaved PARP compared to the transfected cells not treated (−/−) (p < 0.0003, p < 0.0002, p < 0.003 and p < 0.01, respectively). (a). There was no significance found between the ɸsiRNA and siRNA-PG experimental groups in either normal or IPF fibroblasts. PI levels were assessed by flow cytometry after overnight treatment with (+) or without (−) anti-FasL/cycloheximide in normal and IPF fibroblasts (c and d). The normal transfected fibroblasts did not show any significant change in PI positivity between the treated (+/+) and untreated (−/−) transfected cells (Φ-siRNA (−/−), n = 7, Φ-siRNA (+/+), n = 8, siRNA-PG (−/−), n = 6 and siRNA-PG (+/+), n = 8) (c). The IPF fibroblasts did show a significant difference between the treated (+/+) and untreated (−/−) transfection groups (ɸsiRNA or siRNA-PG, p < 0.05 and p < 0.005, respectively). However, there is a lack of significance between the ɸsiRNA and siRNA-PG groups treated with anti-FasL/Cyclo (+/+) (Φ-siRNA (−/−), n = 7, Φ-siRNA (+/+), n = 7, siRNA-PG (−/−), n = 7 and siRNA-PG (+/+), n = 7) (d)