Figure 4.

Drug release and in vitro assays. (A) Release profile of NβL from PLGA microcapsules under physiological conditions at 37 °C in PBS buffer (pH 7.4) (n = 3). Data are presented as mean values ± S.E.M. (standard error of the mean); (B) IC₅₀ values for free and encapsulated NβL after 24, 72 and 96 h incubation with PC3M human prostate cancer cells. Data are presented as mean values ± S.E.M. from two independent experiments performed in duplicate (n = 4). * Significant difference from the PLGA micro NβL (24 h) group (p < 0.05) according to ANOVA Tukey’s test; (C,D) Microscopic analysis of hematoxylin/eosin-stained PC3M cells after 1 h of treatment with PLGA microcapsules containing NβL. The cells were analyzed by light microscopy (400×).