Retinoic acid receptor α promotes autophagy to alleviate liver ischemia and reperfusion injury

Figure 2 All-trans retinoic acid pretreatment reduces apoptosis and inflammation in liver ischemia and reperfusion injury. A: Apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase 3 expression was detected by Western blot to demonstrate relative quantities in liver tissues; B: The levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 mRNAs were analyzed. Mean ± SD, n = 3-5/group, ^aP < 0.05 vs the sham group; ^bP < 0.05 vs the IR 6h group; ^cP < 0.05 vs the IR 20h group. TNF: Tumor necrosis factor; IL: Interleukin; IR: Ischemia and reperfusion; ATRA: All-trans retinoic acid.