Figure 5.

Iron uptake of sonicated NP-FePO₄ (200) co-incubated with chemical inhibitors targeting endocytosis uptake pathways in Caco-2 cells as measured by cell ferritin formation. NP-FePO₄ (200) (100 µM Fe) was incubated directly in MEM with inhibitors and placed onto Caco-2 cells for 1 h. Cells were washed 3× with PBS and replaced with MEM for a further 23 h. Data values are expressed as the means of two independent experiments (n = 3 per experiment, ± SEM). One-way repeated measures ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparison test was used to distinguish differences in iron uptake between control (NP-FePO₄ (200)) and NP-FePO₄ (200) co-incubated with chemical inhibitors. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences from control (p < 0.05).