['Brain astrocytes play a pivotal role in neuronal activities.', 'An investigation was undertaken to determine whether juniper oil inhibits heat shock-induced apoptosis of astrocytes.', 'Juniper oil inhibited the heat shock-induced apoptosis in human astrocyte CCF-STTG1 cells. Pretreatment of the cells with juniper oil inhibited the heat shock-induced DNA fragmentation and condensation of nuclear chromatin. Juniper oil alone did not affect the apoptosis. Juniper oil inhibited the heat shock-induced caspase-3 activation and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) fragmentation in the human astrocytes.'] Does juniper oil inhibit the heat shock-induced apoptosis via preventing the caspase-3 activation in human astrocytes CCF-STTG1 cells?