Fig. 1. TGF-ß-induced apoptosis in ECs. HUVECs were cultivated in 96-well plates (5000 cells per well) in the presence of purified TGF-ß (50 ng ml^-1, 10 ng ml^-1 and 2 ng ml^-1) in assay medium. After incubation for 24 hours, the cells were washed with cultivation medium and lysed. Intact DNA was removed by centrifugation and the presence of soluble nucleosomes in the supernatant was detected by the Death ELISA kit (Roche). The relative apoptotic response was determined using a standard included in the kit.