All basic chemicals and materials were purchased from Sigma (Taufkirchen, Germany) and Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) if not stated otherwise. Primary hepatocytes were isolated from adult male rats (Wistar-Hannover, 200-300

g) by reverse selleck inhibitor two-step collagenase perfusion as described by Milisav et al.18 The viability of hepatocytes was 94% ± 1%, as determined by Trypan blue exclusion. Around 105 cells/cm2 were placed on collagen type 1 coated coverslips, incubated for 4 hours to permit adhesion in a humidified atmosphere with 95% air and 5% CO2 at 37°C. The cultures were then washed to remove dead or unattached cells and further incubated for the periods indicated overnight in William’s medium E with penicillin and streptomycin (50 U/mL, each), insulin (0.1 U/mL) and 1 μM hydrocortisone hemisuccinate. Each experiment was performed at least three times on the cells from independent isolations. When indicated, 10 μM vinblastine was added to the cells 4 hours after the isolation

and incubated for up to 24 hours. One μM STS was added to primary hepatocytes 24 hours after isolation and incubated further for 2-6 hours. Immunocytochemical and immunohistochemical analyses were performed using standard protocols as described by the suppliers. The following antibodies and dyes were used: anti-caspase-9 (Cell selleck Signaling Technology, Beverly, MA), anti-Bax 6A7 (Sigma, St. Louis, MO), anti-Bax,

anti-Bcl-xL (Bcl2L1), anti-Mcl-1, and anti-p53; all by Abcam (Cambridge, UK). They were detected by the appropriate secondary antibody conjugated to the fluorescent dyes AlexaFluor 488 or 546 (Invitrogen, Molecular Probes, Carlsbad, CA). Streptavidin was conjugated with Alexa Flour 546 (Invitrogen, Molecular Probes). The primary antibodies and streptavidin were added sequentially. The coverslips were mounted with Vectashield Hard Set mounting medium with DAPI (Vector Laboratories, MCE Burlingame, CA). Nonspecific labeling by antibodies was tested by staining the cells with fluorescent secondary antibodies only. The cells were visualized using a Leica SP5 confocal microscope (LeicaMicrosystems, Wetzlar, Germany) with an oil immersion objective (×63 magnification and numerical aperture 1.25). One hundred μg of mitochondrial proteins were resolved by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and transferred onto a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. The same primary antibodies were used as for immunocytochemistry. They were detected by luminescence through the secondary goat antirabbit or goat antimouse antibodies conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (BioRad, Hercules, CA).