Fig. 3

Effects of BaP and NAC on mRNA and protein expressions of caspase-8. a Relative expression of Casp8 mRNA of E10.5 embryos exposed to BaP and co-exposed to NAC by real-time PCR. Data for Casp8 mRNA were normalized by Gapdh for each sample (mean ± SE; n = 5). b Expression of caspase-8 protein in E10.5 embryos exposed to BaP and co-exposed to NAC by western blot. Data for caspase-8 protein were normalized against β-tubulin and are represented as mean ± SD to that of control (n = 7). c Expression of cleaved caspase-8 protein in E10.5 embryos exposed to BaP and co-exposed to NAC by western blot. Data for cleaved caspase-8 protein were normalized against β-tubulin and are represented as mean ± SD to that of control (n = 7). d Representative western blot images of Casp8 and β-tubulin expressions. e Representative images of expression patterns of Casp8 in E9.5 mouse embryos measured using whole-mount in situ hybridization. (i) Control, (ii) BaP exposure, and (iii) BaP + NAC. Bar = 1 mm. Error bars represent standard error or deviation of the mean. BaP, benz(a)pyrene; NAC, N-acetyl-L-cysteine; SE, standard error; SD, standard deviation. ^*p < 0.05 vs. control; ^#p < 0.05 vs. NAC co-treatment