Fig. 4

Effects of melatonin (mel) and erastin on autophagy and apoptosis of SCC-15 cells under the treatment of H₂O₂ (ROS activator) or NAC (ROS inhibitor). SCC-15 cells were treated with or without 20 μM H₂O₂ for 2 h (A) or 10 μM NAC for 2 h (B) and then 5 μM erastin, 2 mM melatonin, and their combination were added for 24 h. Western blot analysis of the protein expression levels of SQSTM1/p62, LC3A/B, cleaved caspase-3, and PARP1 in SCC-15 cells was conducted. ns not significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001