Figure 5. A, the Transwell migration assay showed the inhibitory effects of curcumin on NCI-H446cell migration.

After 8 h of incubation with or without the indicated concentration of curcumin, cells that migrate to the lower chamber were fixed, stained, and counted using light microscopy or flurescent microscopy–based high content screening system, as describe in Materials and Methods. Random fields were scanned (four fields per filter of the well) for the presence of cells on the lower side of the membrane. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. * p<0.05, compared with control cells. ^# p<0.05 compared with cells treated with IL-6 (25 ng/ml). B, the effect of curcumin treatment on cell invasion was determined using the Matrigel Invasion Assay System. NCI-H446 cells in serum-free medium with or without curcumin were seeded into the upper chamber of the system. The bottom well was filled with complete medium. After 16 h of incubation, the cells that had invaded through the Matrigel membrane were stained with 20% Giemsa solution and counted under a light microscope (magnification, ×200). The experiments were performed thrice in triplicate. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. * p<0.05, compared with control cells. ^# p<0.05 compared with cells treated with IL-6 (25 ng/ml).