The intracellular iron content of the INS-1 cells after 24 hours of preculture with PEG-USPIO at various iron concentrations (A). The cell viability assay of the INS-1 cells, by MTT (B). The insulin release assay of the beta-TC cells pretreated with PEG-USPIO for 24 hours (C). The flow cytometry results of the INS-1 cells precultured with PEG-USPIO at different iron concentrations, for 24 hours: the control (D); 10 μg/mL (E); 20 μg/mL (F); 30 μg/mL (G); 40 μg/mL (H); and 50 μg/mL (I). Western blot results of INS-1 cells after 24 hours of nanoparticle coculture. The Bcl-2 expression increased slightly associated with the increasing iron concentration (J). The gray density ratio of Bcl-2 and β-actin (the control) (K).
Abbreviations: Bcl, B-cell lymphoma; FE, iron; INS, insulinoma; MTT, 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide; PEG-USPIO, polyethylene glycol-coated ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide.