Figure 6. Effect of dexamethasone plus or minus the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU486. HLECs were incubated with dexamethasone at concentrations ranging from 0 to 100 µM for 24 h with/without 10 µM of the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU-486, after which apoptosis was determined by the caspase-3 assay. No protection of human lens epithelial cells against dexamethasone-induced apoptosis was seen by 10 µM RU-486. Instead, simultaneous incubation with RU-486 significantly increased the proapoptotic effect seen by dexamethasone. Cells exposed to 10 µM RU-486 alone showed no increase in caspase-3 activity. Mean ±SEM from 3 separate culture wells are shown from one of four experiments with similar results; the asterisk indicates a p<0.05, the double asterisk indicates a p<0.01, and the triple asterisk indicates a p<0.001.