Generally, the antiapoptotic effects of NO can be mediated through a number of mechanisms such as the nitrosylation and inactivation of many of the caspases including caspase 3. As shown in Figure 2, CLG significantly (independent t-test, P < 0.05) stimulated caspase-3 (protein and gene), the hallmark enzyme of apoptosis. Previous reports have shown that the ability of cucurbitacin D to induce apoptosis is related with its ability to activate caspase-3 in cancer cells [33]. Earlier, we also observed the onset of apoptosis marked by the nuclear fragmentation using Hoechst 33342 dye. Both the morphological assessment of changes in apoptotic nuclei and the activation of caspase-3 induced by CGL in this study had validated the presence of involvement of apoptosis in the cell death occurred.
occurred.