Fig. (4).

Effect of Curcumin on KBrO₃ induced loss of primary cilia and disruption of tight junction proteins.

Fig. (4a) KBrO₃ (5.5mM) treatment of RPTEC/TERT1 for 24h on ciliary and junctional proteins in comparison with untreated or curcumin-treated cells. RPTEC/TERT1 cells were cultured in 8-well chamber slides and treated with after 10 days of 100% confluency. Confocal images (40x) show the primary cilia with red labelled, α-acetylated tubulin, while the green staining represents the tight junctional protein ZO-1. Hoechst 33342 was used to stain the nuclei (blue), scale 50µm. (i) 0.1% DMSO (control), (ii) curcumin 25 µM, (iii) 5.5 mM KBrO₃ (ic10), (iv) Co-treatment of curcumin + KBrO₃. The images are representative of 3 independent experiments. Scale =50 µm.

Fig. (4b) KBrO₃ (5.5mM) treatment of RPTEC/TERT1 for 24h on a ciliary protein in comparison with untreated or curcumin-treated cells. Confocal images (40x) show the primary cilia with red labelled Arl13b. Hoechst 33342 was used to stain the nuclei (blue), scale 50µm. (i) 0.1% DMSO (control), (ii) curcumin 25 µM, (iii) 5.5 mM KBrO₃ (ic10), (iv) Co-treatment of curcumin + KBrO₃. The images are representative of 3 independent experiments.

Fig. (4c, d) KBrO₃ (5.5mM) treatment of RPTEC/TERT1 for 24h on ZO-1 and Arl13b gene expression, respectively compared with the untreated or curcumin-treated cells. The data represents three independent experiments. *= p> 0.05, ** = p>0.01. (The color version of the figure is available in the electronic copy of the article).