Fig. 10

TgROP18 inhibition of procaspase-3, procaspase-7 and procaspase-9 cleavage to form active caspases in ATP-treated SF268 cells. a Western blot analysis of procaspase cleavage. SF268 cells were prepared as described in Fig. 6. Cell lysates were used for western blot analysis. The antibodies used could recognize both the full-length and cleaved forms of their protein antigens. The molecular weights of the full-length and cleaved forms of the protein antigens are as follows. caspase-9: 47, 37, 35 kD; caspase-7: 35, 20 kD; caspase-3: 35, 17 kD; PARP: 116, 89 kD. Actin was used as a control, and SAG1 was used to evaluate the number of T. gondii tachyzoites, ensuring consistent numbers of host cells and tachyzoites in comparison groups. b Densitometric analysis of the western blotting images. Quantification was performed using ImageJ software, and the experiments were repeated four times for statistical analysis. The comparison the ratios of cleaved caspase-9/actin (b1), cleaved caspase-7/actin (b2), cleaved caspase-3/actin (b3), and cleaved PARP/actin (b4) between group was performed using the Kruskal–Wallis H-test and Bonferroni correction (**P < 0.01, *P < 0.05)