Figure 1.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) on AuNPs is neuroprotective in vitro. (a) Graph and photomicrographs of representative mouse cerebellar neurons illustrating the extent of neurite outgrowth in cultures maintained in medium containing phosphate-buffered saline (control vehicle), PEG, or PEG-AuNP-40, 24 hours after plating. (b) Graph representing % survival of mouse cerebellar neurons after 24 hours exposure to 10 μmol/l H₂O₂ relatively to nontreated control cells, either in the absence or in the presence of free polyethylene glycol PEG and PEG-AuNP-40, respectively. Values represent means ± SEM. *P ≤ 0.05 and ***P ≤ 0.001 by one-way analysis of variance for overall differences, followed by Holm-Sidak post hoc analysis. At least 100 cells were measured (in a) in each experimental condition; n = 12 samples per treatment in two independent experiments in b.