Fig. 2.

nCeO₂ directly induces proliferation of NHLFs, while amsCeO₂ does not. Quantitation of DAPI stained nuclei of NHLFs that had been treated for 48 h was used to determine cell counts at the indicated doses and treatments. nCeO₂ induced a significant increase in cell proliferation at both 0.006 μg/cm² (a) and 0.2 μg/cm² (b) compared to non-treated cells as well as those treated with amsCeO₂. SWCNTs and TGFβ (1 ng/mL) were used as positive controls and also significantly increased proliferation of the fibroblast cells. Statistical significance is indicated as *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 compared to non-treated (NT) conditions and #p < 0.05 and ##p < 0.01 for nCeO₂ compared to amsCeO₂