Cytotoxicity and Proapoptotic Effects of Allium atroviolaceum Flower Extract by Modulating Cell Cycle Arrest and Caspase-Dependent and p53-Independent Pathway in Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Figure 2

Morphological observation of treated MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells by phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy. (a1)–(a4) and (a1′)–(a4′) indicate the untreated and treated MCF7 cells with FAA for 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h, respectively, while (b1)–(b4) and (b1′)–(b4′) display the untreated and treated MDA-MB-231 cells with FAA for 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h, respectively. In phase contrast images autophagy (A), shrinkage (S), apoptotic bodies (AB), and debris (D) are shown. In fluorescent images the typical characteristics of apoptosis such as nuclear margination (NM), chromatin condensation (CC), nuclear fragmentation (NF), membrane blebbing (MB), apoptotic bodies (AB), and membrane looseness (ML) are presented. Similar cellular morphology was observed in three independent experiments ().