Table 1

Induction of apoptosis in BPAEC by 2-ME and comparison with estradiol-17β, 2-methoxyestriol, and estriol

Compound	Concentration	Apoptosis
	μm	%
Vehicle		1.91 ± 0.31
2-ME	0.5	8.48 ± 0.64^1-a
	2.0	16.51 ± 0.85^1-a
Estradiol-17β	2.0	2.14 ± 0.40
	10.0	2.52 ± 0.54
2-Methoxyestriol	2.0	0.83 ± 0.13
	10.0	1.38 ± 0.12
Estriol	2.0	0.88 ± 0.21
	10.0	0.83 ± 0.15

BPAEC were treated with the test agents at the indicated concentrations for 20 hr, fixed with 70% ethanol, and stained with acridine orange. The morphological features of apoptosis (cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation, blebbing, and fragmentation) were monitored by fluorescence microscopy. At least 500 cells from randomly selected fields were counted. Data reported represent the mean ± standard error of at least three independent experiments performed in duplicate or triplicate.

↵1-a p < .01 versus vehicle.