Apoptosis analyses of thymocytes from WT and TG mice. (A) Histograms show apoptosis, measured by TUNEL technology, of freshly isolated WT and TG thymocytes from a representative experiment. Numbers indicate the percentage apoptosis values from 6 independent experiments. ^***P < .0005. (B) Western blot analyses of thymocytes from WT and TG mice left uncultured (0 h), or after 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours of culture. In each Western blot, bands that represent procaspase-3 or -9 are labeled “casp-3” or “casp-9,” Whereas activated forms of caspases are labeled “cleaved casp-3,” “cleaved casp-8,” or “cleaved casp-9.” respectively. In the caspase-9 panel, C indicates the positive control DEX-treated thymocytes. β-Tubulin expression for each Western blot is also reported. (C) Dot plots represent Δψ_m of fresh thymocytes (0 h), or thymocytes cultured for 1 or 2 hours. Dot plots labeled “val” show the positive controls (thymocytes treated with valinomycin). (D) Bars represent percentage apoptosis of thymocytes cultured with (▦) or without coated anti-CD3 mAb (□). ^*P < .05.