SAC protects TBHP-treated chondrocytes against apoptosis. (A) Tunel staining assay results show the number of apoptotic (Tunel-positive) chondrocytes treated with or without SAC for 24 h and 50 μM TBHP for 2 h. (B) Representative western blot images and (C) Histogram plots show the levels of cleaved-caspase3, caspase3, BAX and BCL2 proteins in the chondrocytes treated with or without SAC for 24 h and 50 μM TBHP for 2 h. Note: The data are presented as the means ± SD of three independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001.