Figure 2. No cytotoxicity and functional improvement of C-astrocytes.

(a) Astrocytes isolation and treatment of C-Pc were implemented according to the schedule. (b) Viability and (c) proliferation of astrocytes were assessed by MTT and BrdU assay, respectively. The concentrations of the treated C-Pc were 0, 100, 300, 1000 and 3000 ng/ml and the treatment times of C-Pc were 1, 2 and 3 days. (d) The quantities of GFAP and vimentin were investigated by western blot analysis at day 3 on the schedule. The full-length blots were presented in the supplementary information. (e) Identification of C-Pc remaining on the surface or inside the astrocytes by confocal fluorescence microscopy (800×) N-astrocytes and C-astrocytes (100 ng/ml C-Pc for 2 days). Data are presented as the means ± SEMs. The asterisk denotes significant difference against day 1 sample at each concentration. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01