Fig. 3

Levels of ROS, MDA, and cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, IL-8, TNF-α and TGF-β) in HepG2 cells after 24 h exposure to TCA, B, and the combination. A ROS decreased significantly after exposure to B or combined exposure to TCA and B. B MDA down-regulated obviously after exposure to B or combined exposure to TCA and B. C IL-6 reduced significantly after combined exposure to TCA and B at the doses of 1.56 and 3.12 mM compared with control group. D IL-1β only reduced obviously after exposure to the dose of o.78 mM TCA combined with 0.2 mM B compared with either the control group or 0.78 mM TCA group. E IL-8 showed significant decrease in any exposure groups compared with the control group and down-regulated at the doses of 0.78- and 1.56 mM TCA after the combined exposure compared with the corresponding TCA group. F TNF-α failed to show any obvious changes in any exposure groups. G TGF-β only decreased dramatically after exposure to the dose of 3.12 mM TCA combined with 0.2 mM B compared with either the control group or 3.12 mM TCA group. The data represents the mean ± SD of four independent experiments in quadruplicate. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 represent the statistical significances compared with the control group. ^∆p < 0.05 and ^∆∆p < 0.01 represent the statistical significances compared with the corresponding TCA group