Fig. 4

The effects of FGF-2 overexpression on DEX-induced apoptosis of MC3T3-E1 cells. MC3T3-E1 cells were pretreated with an FGF-2 expression plasmid and/or PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) 12 h before DEX treatment. Flow cytometry after Annexin V/PI staining (a) and TUNEL (× 100 magnification, b) analysis of apoptosis after DEX (10⁻⁶ M, 24 h), DEX + FGF-2 pcDNA3, and DEX + FGF-2 pcDNA3 + LY294002 treatments. c Western blotting was performed to analyze the expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved Caspase-3, Caspase-3, FGF (c), PI3K, p-PI3K, AKT and p-AKT (d) in MC3T3-E1 cells after DEX (10⁻⁶ M, 24 h), DEX + FGF-2 pcDNA3, and DEX + FGF-2 pcDNA3 + LY294002 treatments. *P < 0.05, DEX dexamethasone