Effect of hyperglycemia (HG) and hypoxia/reperfusion (H/R) on intracellular Gln, cell viability, and apoptosis.

H9C2 cells were treated with HG (33 mM), H/R, or HG + HR. (A) Intracellular Gln level in each group. (B) Cell viability of each group was established using an MTT assay. (C) HG and H/R-induced cell apoptosis was examined by DAPI staining and TUNEL assay. Blue spots represent cell nuclei and green spots represent apoptotic bodies. (D) Bars represent the percentage of TUNEL-positive cells based on the total number of cells stained by DAPI. The results are expressed as mean ± S.D. of 3 independent experiments. * p < 0.05 compare with the control group; # p < 0.05 compare with the HG and H/R group; a.u. = arbitrary units.