Research Article

Curcumin Targets Both Apoptosis and Necroptosis in Acidity-Tolerant Prostate Carcinoma Cells

Figure 6

Effects of pretreatment with N-acetylcysteine on curcumin-induced cytotoxicity in 3D cultures of PC-3 and PC-3AcT cells. Spheroids were cultured in ultralow cluster 96-well plate and pretreated with or without NAC (5 mM) 2 h prior to treatment with CCM (40 μM) for 48 h. (a) Vitality staining of spheroids (from left to right: phase-contrast image (i), fluorescent images of FDA(+) living cells in green (ii), PI(+) dead cells in red (iii), and merged (iv)). (b) The spheroid viability was measured by the enhanced cell viability assay kit. (c) The levels of apoptosis- and necroptosis-mediated proteins were analyzed by Western blotting. vs. respective control cells. # vs. respective CCM-treated cells. CCM: curcumin; NAC: N-acetylcysteine.
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