Figure 2. Apoptosis in human lens epithelial cells (HLECs) exposed to 17β-estradiol at different concentrations for 24 h. A: Increase in Caspase-3 activity after 17β-estradiol exposure. B: Increased number of apoptotic cells (% of control) as evident by staining with Hoechst 33342. Mean±SEM is shown. Experiments were performed three times in triplicates (n=3) and one representative experimental run for each method is shown. *p<0.05 as compared to control without 17β-estradiol (0) exposure. C, D: HLECs stained with Hoechst after exposure to 10 µM 17β-estradiol and corresponding control. Insets show mitotic and apoptotic nucleus respectively. Scale bar=50 µm.