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Figure 5 Effects of CB₁ Antagonists on DOX-Induced Apoptosis In Vivo

(A) Effects of CB₁ antagonists on DOX-induced caspase-3 activation analyzed by Western blot from heart tissue homogenates. Treatment with rimonabant or AM281 reduced myocardial caspase-3 activation in DOX-treated mice. The blot was also probed for beta-actin level for loading control. Representative blot from at least 5 experiments. (B) Effects of CB₁ antagonists on DOX-induced caspase-3 activity analyzed by colorimetric method from heart tissue homogenates. Treatment with rimonabant or AM281 reduced caspase-3 activity in DOX-treated mice. *p < 0.05 versus vehicle; #p < 0.05 versus DOX (n = 4 per group). (C) Effects of CB₁ antagonists on DOX-induced caspase-3 and caspase-9 gene expression. Data were analyzed with 2 housekeeping genes, and data presented here were normalized with beta-actin. Treatment with rimonabant or AM281 reduced myocardial caspase-3 and caspase-9 gene expression in DOX-treated mice. *p < 0.05 versus vehicle; #p < 0.05 versus DOX (n = 6 to 15 per group). Abbreviations as in Figure 1.