Figure 6.

(A) Immunofluorescent images of the HCT116 and fibroblasts primary cell co-culture (vimentin stained in red). Co-cultures were incubated with fresh growth medium (a–c), ZnD at its respective IC₅₀ at 48 h (Table 1) (d–f), AuNP@PEG@ZnD nanoconjugate (g–i) and NanoZnD (j,l,m) for an incubation period of 6 h. Immunofluorescent images were acquired with a Zeiss Axioplan 2 Imaging Microscope and a Nikon DXM1200F digital camera. (B) Ratio Fibroblasts/HCT116. Cell count was performed using ImageJ Software. (C) Average corrected total cell fluorescence (CTCF) ratio, vimentin/phalloidin, of the co-cultures exposed to fresh growth medium, ZnD (IC₅₀), and with nanoparticle constructs functionalized with ZnD, AuNP@PEG@ZnD, and NanoZnD. Data represents the mean of the fold variation compared to the control sample without AuNPs (fresh growth medium). Data represents the mean ± SEM of at least three different images; * p < 0.05 compared to control. n.s.—no statistical difference.