Fig. 8.

The effect of NucA modification on the toxicity of the conjugated PTX. a Body weight changes after 4 weeks of different treatments indicated in xenografted mice. Body weight was normalized to each body weight before treatment. The dosing points were indicated with blue arrows. b The white blood cell count determined by automated hematology analyzer before and after different treatments in xenografted mice. c Neurophysiological analysis of caudal NCV and digital NCV in the xenografted mice 4 days before the end of the different treatments indicated. d Histological assessments of tissues using H&E staining in different treatment groups. Arrows in Heart images indicate the myofibrillar loss and atrophy of myocardial cells. Arrows in Liver images indicate the hepatic cords loss, steatosis and dilatation of blood sinus. Arrows in Spleen images indicate the white pulp atrophy. Arrows in Lung images indicate the broken lung fibers. Scale bars, 100 μm. e Semi-quantitative histological analysis of the H&E-stained tissue sections in different treatment groups. Note: PBS, the xenografted mice treated with PBS. PTX, the xenografted mice treated with paclitaxel. CRO, the xenografted mice treated with CRO aptamer. NucA, the xenografted mice treated with nucleolin aptamer. CRO-PTX, the xenografted mice treated with CRO-PTX. NucA-PTX, the xenografted mice treated with NucA-PTX. The data were presented as the means ± standard deviation. n = 6, *P < 0.05 vs. NucA-PTX group