Figure 4.
In vitro treatment with atorvastatin and NAC demonstrated superior effects on the number, proliferation, apoptosis, and ROS levels of cultivated BM EPCs from corticosteroid-resistant ITP patients compared with corticosteroid-sensitive ITP patients. The cultivated BM EPCs from corticosteroid-resistant ITP and corticosteroid-sensitive ITP patients were incubated with atorvastatin (ST; 500 nM) or NAC (1 mM). The effects of the different treatments on representative images (left panel) and quantification (right panel) of (A) double-positive–stained (merged in yellow) with DiI–Ac-LDL (red) and FITC–UEA-I (green) (per well) (original magnification ×10), (B) tube formation inspected on an inverted light microscope (original magnification ×4), and (C) the migrated cells (blue) which were fixed and stained with crystal violet (original magnification ×10) of cultivated BM EPCs from corticosteroid-resistant ITP patients and corticosteroid-sensitive ITP patients were compared at day 7 in culture. In addition, the (D) cell number (per well), (E) ROS levels, (F) cell proliferation, and (G) apoptosis of cultivated BM EPCs from corticosteroid-resistant ITP patients and corticosteroid-sensitive ITP patients were compared at day 7 in culture. The data were expressed as fold-change relative to corticosteroid-resistant ITP. The Wilcoxon test for paired data was used to identify the drug effects. All P values <.05 were considered significant and were provided in the figure. OD, optical density.