Figure 1. Cellular osmolytes suppress cell death in cultured lens epithelial cells exposed to endoplasmic reticulum stress

LECs were pre-treated with PBA, TMAO, and TUDCA for 14 h then exposed to 250 mM of galactose, 10 mM of homocysteine, or 10 μM of tunicamycin or an ER stressor for 24 h followed by taking a photograph of live cells showing the ones treated with galactose (A). The cell numbers in the photographs were counted and a mean value of the four experiments were averaged (B). A high percentage of LECs die when exposed to ER stress, but cells treated with cellular osmolytes showed a much higher survival rate. More live LECs were found in cells treated with TUDCA than that with PBA.