Figure 5.

(a)Viability assay (WST-8) of MCF-7 cells after 24 h and 48 h exposure to 10 µg/mL and 40 µg/mL of SiO₂@LA NPs at 37 °C and 43 °C. Percent viability of NP-treated cells was expressed relative to non-treated control cells (without SiO₂@LA NPs exposure). As positive control (P), cells were incubated with 5% DMSO showing a ~ 60% viability decrease (data not shown). Data reported as mean ± SD from three independent experiments are considered statistically significant compared with control (n = 8) for p value ˂ 0.05 (<0.05 *). (b) Viability values expressed in percentages obtained on MCF-7 cells after 24 h and 48 h exposure to 10 µg/mL and 40 µg/mL of blank SiO₂NPs and free LA at 37 °C and 43 °C.