FIGURE 3

Group comparisons of immunoperoxidase staining for activated caspase-3 showing effects of normoxia, A/R, and transfection with scrambled RNA duplexes on cultured HUVEC. Transfection with HIF-1 siRNA (but not scrambled RNA) duplexes prior to A/R markedly increased the number of cells manifesting immunoreactivity for activated caspase-3. Results in each category represent means.e.m. of three experiments. (A) Nontransfected normoxic cultures. (B) Normoxic cultures transfected with HIF-1 siRNA duplexes. (C) Cultures transfected with siRNA duplexes and subjected to A/R. (D) Cultures transfected with scrambled RNA duplexes and subjected to A/R. (E) Nontransfected cultures subjected to A/R. ^*Significantly different (P<0.05) compared with the other four groups.