Fig. 2

Telmisartan affects survival of astrocytes in an in vitro stroke model. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 compared different experimental groups as marked by horizontal bar; graphs depict mean values ± standard error of the mean (SEM). A Experimental timeline. Three to five days after subculturing, astrocytes were left unstimulated or treated with 0.1 µM, 1 µM, or 10 µM telmisartan for 48 h. They were then exposed to 2 h or 8 h of oxygen–glucose deprivation (OGD) before they were allowed to recover in regular culture medium for 24 h. Afterward, the cells were used for further experiments. Unstimulated astrocytes, which were also exposed to 2 h or 8 h of OGD, respectively, served as controls. B Representative immunocytochemical staining for cell viability using propidium iodide (PI, red) of untreated astrocytes (Control) and astrocytes treated for 2 and 8 h, respectively, with OGD (Control 2 h OGD and Control 8 h OGD). Hoechst stained all cell nuclei blue; scale bar = 50 µm. C The percentage of alive cells to total cells did not change significantly for control cells under unstimulated conditions or 2 h of OGD, but changed significantly after 8 h of OGD. D After 2 h of OGD, the percentage of alive cells to total cells increased significantly with the preincubation with 1 µM and 10 µM telmisartan, respectively, compared to cells only subjected to OGD. E The percentage of alive cells to total cells changed significantly with the preincubation with telmisartan at different concentrations compared to control cells after 8 h of OGD