Fig. 8

Protective effect of artemisinin against amiodarone-induced cell death in primary human RPE cells and retinal injury in mice in relation to AMPK. (a) Primary human RPE cells were treated with 0.1% DMSO (control) or artemisinin (5 ∼ 80 µM) for 24 h. Cell viability was determined by the MTT assay (n = 4). (b) Cell cultures were pretreated with or without artemisinin (5 ∼ 80 µM) for 1 h and then incubated with 5 µM amiodarone for another 24 h. Cell viability was determined by the MTT assay (n = 4). (c-f) Cell cultures were treated with or without 1 µM Compound C for 10 min, followed by 20 µM artemisinin for 1 h and 5 µM amiodarone for 24 h. Cell viability was determined by the MTT assay (n = 4) (c). Cell death was detected by the LDH cytotoxicity assay (n = 4) (d). The MMP was measured by using JC-1 dye (n = 4) (e-f). Green and red fluorescence was observed under a fluorescence microscope, and the fluorescence was quantified using a fluorescence microplate reader. The scale bar is 200 μm. (g) Representative photopic 3.0 ERG images of each group. (h-i) Photopic 3.0 ERG a- and b-wave amplitudes were analysed (n = 5). (j) Representative images of HE-stained sections from each group. The scale bar is 100 μm. (k) Representative images of the ONL in retinal tissue after TUNEL and 2-(4-Amidinophenyl)-6-indolecarbamidine dihydrochloride (DAPI) double staining. The scale bar is 20 μm