Figure 4.

Effect of 5–15 nm SiNPs on ER stress in glioblastoma LN229 cells.

Notes: RT-qPCR analysis of HSPA5 (A) and DDIT3 (B) genes. Cells were treated with 50 μg/mL and 100 μg/mL SiNPs, and total RNA was extracted from LN229 cells cultured for 24 hours or 48 hours. Results shown as relative fold change in mRNA expression in comparison to untreated controls, where expression level was set as 1. *P<0.05. Western blot analysis of GRP78 and GRP94 expression in glioblastoma cells incubated with 50 μg/mL and 100 μg/mL SiNPs for 24 hours and 48 hours (C). Samples containing 20 μg protein were submitted to electrophoresis and immunoblotting. Representative Western blot images are presented. β-Tubulin was used as the loading control.

Abbreviations: SiNPs, silicon dioxide nanoparticles; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; RT-qPCR, reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction.