Regulations of sevoflurane or propofol on PEDF expression,
Erk pathway, and HIF-1α expression
From immunofluorescent staining, it was found that the fluorescent
intensity of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) was decreased in
the sevoflurane group but increased in the propofol group compared to
naïve control (Fig 4A ). The result was validated using Western
blot analysis, which showed the significantly lower expression level of
PEDF after sevoflurane exposure (NC vs . S, 1.0 ± 0.1 vs .
0.6 ± 0.2, p < 0.0001, n = 6) but significantly higher after
propofol exposure (NC vs . P, 1.0 ± 0.1 vs . 1.2 ± 0.1, p
< 0.05, n = 6) (Fig 4D ). Different from PEDF
expression levels, the Western blot analysis showed that the expression
level ratio of p-Erk1/2 to Erk1/2 was significantly increased in the
sevoflurane group (NC vs . S, 1.0 ± 0.1 vs . 1.3 ± 0.2, p
< 0.05, n = 6), but decreased in the propofol group compared
to the control (NC vs . P, 1.0 ± 0.1 vs . 0.7 ± 0.2, p
< 0.05, n = 6) (Fig 4E ). Similarly, the fluorescent
staining showed SKOV3 cells administered with sevoflurane had a higher
intensity of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) than the naïve
control, while those of the propofol group had a lower intensity of
HIF-1α than control (Fig 4B ). From Western blot analysis, it
was also found that the expression level of HIF-1α was significantly
increased after cancer cells administered with sevoflurane (NCvs . S, 1.0 ± 0.3 vs . 1.5 ± 0.5, p < 0.05, n =
6), but significantly decreased after propofol treatment compared to the
control (NC vs. S, 1.0 ± 0.3 vs. 0.4 ± 0.3, p < 0.05, n = 6)
(Fig 4F ).