Tetramethylpyrazine induces reactive oxygen species-based mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in colon cancer cells

Figure 1 N-acetyl-L-cysteine and Z-VAD-FMK inhibit tetramethylpyrazine-induced cell apoptosis. A: Cell morphology of SW480 and HCT116 cells treated with tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) with or without Z-VAD-FMK and N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) observed by inverted light microscopy; B: Percentage of apoptotic cells in SW480 and HCT116 cells treated with TMP with or without Z-VAD-FMK and NAC determined by flow cytometry; C: Cell survival rate of SW480 and HCT116 cells treated with TMP with or without Z-VAD-FMK and NAC. ^aP < 0.05. TMP: Tetramethylpyrazine; NAC: N-acetyl-L-cysteine.