2.9 Statistical analysis
All patch clamp recorded data were analyzed using Clampfit 10.6
(Molecular Devices, USA), OriginPro 8.0 (Origin Lab, USA) and Adobe
Illustrator 10 (Adobe, USA). The concentration-response curve was fitted
by the logistic equation y =A 2+(A 1-A 2)/[1+(x /x 0)p ],
where x is the drug concentration, and p is the Hill
coefficient. All data are expressed as the means ± SEM. One-way ANOVA
followed by multiple-comparison test was used to evaluate multiple test
treatments. A value of p<0.05 was considered to be
statistically significant. IC50 denotes the
concentration determined for half-maximal inhibitory effects. In the
figures, the designations for p values are: *p<0.05,
**P<0.01 and ***P<0.001 respectively.
Results
The four groups of experiments conducted assessed the mechanistic basis
for the clinical reports bearing upon cardiac safety of HCQ, whether
applied alone or in combination with AZM.