Figure 4.

Telomere uncapping induced by NiP. (a) Representative images of anaphase bridges and micronuclei in MCF-7 cells treated for 5 days with NiM or NiP were shown. Cells were stained with DAPI and images were recorded (Original magnification: ×100 objective). Red arrow indicated bridge formation, and Green arrow indicated micronuclei formation. Anaphase bridges and micronuclei often coexisted in treated cells. (b) Telomere fusion induced by NiP. Metaphase spreads were stained with DAPI. Red arrow indicated telomere fusion. (c) The frequency of telomere instability was calculated as the ratio between cells exhibiting anaphase bridges/micronuclei and the total number of anaphase cells (at least 50 anaphase cells were examined). Telomeric fusion frequency was calculated as total number of telomeric fusions/total number of metaphases. The data represented the means of four independent experiments with SD.