Figure 7: Immunocytochemical analysis of active caspase-3, counterstained with Harris hematoxylin. Active caspase-3 immunostaining of epithelial cells in buccal pouch tissue of male hamsters in the (A-C) Normal, (D-E) Cancer, (F-G) MNP, (H-J) MNP+AMF1 and (K-L) MNP+AMF7 groups. Cancer and MNP groups exhibit immunostaining limited to the top layer of the epithelium or the islands of keratin (red arrows), whereas the Normal, MNP+AMF1 and MNP+AMF7 groups exhibited, in addition to markings in the aforementioned region of the epithelium, significant markings dispersed in lower layers (black arrows). Scale bars represent 10 μm. Epi: epithelium. Krt: keratin layer. Mit: mitosis. (M) Densitometric analysis. Data are the mean ± SD. Within graphs, columns with different superscript letters differ significantly (p<0.05).