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. 2011 Aug 22;6(8):e23388. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023388

Figure 2. Nanoparticle formulation increases curcumin uptake, which is inhibited by transferrin receptor blockade.

Figure 2

A) SUP-T1 cells were incubated for 1 h with curcumin formulations as indicated, then examined by confocal microscopy. (i) Cells without curcumin; (ii) 1 µM sol-curcumin; (iii) 1 µM nano-curcumin; or (iv) 1 µM nano-curcumin in the presence of transferrin receptor antibody (100 ng/ml). Each panel contains three images: fluorescence, bright field and merged. B) SUP-T1 cells (i) or stimulated PBMCs (ii) were incubated for 1 h with curcumin formulations, after which intrinsic fluorescence of intracellular curcumin was determined quantitatively by fluorometric analysis. Cells were treated with 5 µM sol-curcumin, 5 µM nano-curcumin, or 5 µM nano-curcumin in the presence of antibodies to the transferrin receptor (TrR-Ab; 100 ng/ml). All the values are normalized to that obtained from SUPT1 cells. Error bars indicate standard deviation (SD). ***, P≤0.001 compared to sol-curcumin; n.s.: non-significant.