A Carotenoid Extract from a Southern Italian Cultivar of Pumpkin Triggers Nonprotective Autophagy in Malignant Cells

Figure 2

CEN delays cell proliferation in Caco-2 and SAOs cells. Micrographs of cell nuclei stained with CyQuant fluorescent dye of Caco-2 (a, b, c) and SAOs (d, e, f) after 168 h of treatment with NE and CEN (400 and 200 μg/ml, w/v) (microscope Axiovert 200 Zeiss; FITC fluorescence filter, 200x magnification). Representative images of untreated Caco-2 and SAOs cells: untreated (a, d), incubated with NE (b, e) or CEN (c, f), respectively. CyQuant assay for nuclei quantification is shown in (g) for of Caco-2 and (h) for SAOs cells. CyQuant assay was performed after 168 h of treatment, as described in Materials and Methods. Bar graphs represent the mean ± SD; symbols indicate significance: with respect to NE; ; and with respect to untreated cells.