Mokhtari Amirmajdi et al. : Apoptosis of Human Lymphocytes after Exposure …. Data were analyzed by Wilcoxon signed rank test using GraphPad-Prism-5 software. Results Repeatability data was measured 6 times in each well. The results of Caspase-3/CPP32 fluorometric assay (Fig. 2) show that cas- pase-3 activity was significantly higher in the fertile HF-treated lymphocytes compared to both infertile HF-treated lymphocytes and cell control. P-value of 0.0625 was consid- ered as significant for assessment of Bax and Bcl-2 expression in fertile HF-treated lymphocytes compared with both infertile HF-treated and control lymphocytes. As shown in Fig. 3, expression of the Bax mRNA was significantly increased (P=0.0511) in fertile HF-treated lympho- cytes compared with both infertile HF- treated and control lymphocytes while the expression of the Bcl-2 mRNA in fertile HF- treated lymphocytes was significantly de- creased relative to both infertile HF-treated and control lymphocytes (P=0.0719). Fur- thermore, the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was increased in fertile HF-treated lymphocytes compared to both infertile HF-treated and control lymphocytes (Fig. 4). Table 1: Primers used for RT-PCR of Bcl-2, Bax and GAPDH Genes Bcl-2 Bax GAPDH Primers F: 5'CATGTGTGTGGAGAGCGTCAAC3' R: 5'CAGATAGGCACCCAGGGTGAT3' F: 5'TTTGCTTCAGGGTTTCATCCA3' R: 5'CTCCATGTTACTGTCCAGTTCGT3' F: 5'GGCCAAGATCATCCATGACAACT3' R: 5'ACCAGGACATGAGCTTGACAAAGT3' Product size 241 bp 151 bp 500 bp Fig.1: Left: Aspiration of hydatid fluid from a splenic cyst. Right: 24-well cell culture plate. From the top: Fertile hydatid fluid treated lymphocytes, Infertile hydatid fluid treated lymphocytes, Cell control (all for measurement of caspase 3 activity after 6 hours), Fertile hydatid fluid treated lymphocytes, Infertile hydatid fluid treated lymphocytes, Cell control (all for assessment of Bax , and Bcl-2 expression after 12 hours) 12