Fig. 5

NAC induces apoptosis in GBM cells via targeting Notch2 signaling. a Total cellular GSH was measured in U87 and U251 cells under pre-treatment of BSO (2 mM, 12 h), followed by NAC (20 mM, 24 h). * P < 0.05 compared with control group, # P < 0.05 compared with NAC group. b Apoptosis rate was measured by flow cytometry assay.U87 and U251 cells were electroporated with pcDNA3.1-Notch2 or pcDNA3.1-EV, pcDNA3.1-EV served as a control, followed by BSO (2 mM, 12 h) and NAC (20 mM, 24 h) treatment. Q1: necrotic cells, Q2: late apoptotic cells; Q3: early phase apoptotic cells; Q4: normal cells. c The western blot analysis of Bcl-2 and Bax in U87 and U251 cells under the treatment as B described. β-actin was used as a loading control. All data are presented as means ± SD of three independent experiments. * P < 0.05 compared with EV group, # P < 0.05 compared with EV + NAC + BSO group