Figure 3.

Gentamicin Normalizes the Cell Morphology and Substratum Attachment of GS-JEB Cells

(A) Under light microscopy, cultured normal HKCs show a compact, typical epithelial cell morphology. Untreated GS-JEB keratinocytes, in contrast, exhibit a mixture of cell morphologies, with some cells displaying an elongated, spindle-shaped morphology while other cells have an enlarged cytoplasm. After 48 h of treatment with 50 μg/mL gentamicin for PT1 and 12.5 μg/mL for PT2 and PT3, the treated GS-JEB keratinocytes show a more typical epithelial cell morphology reminiscent of normal human keratinocytes (HKCs; scale bars, 100 μm). (B) Primary GS-JEB keratinocytes were seeded onto tissue culture plates and treated with an effective, non-toxic dose of GENT as above for 48 h. All cells were trypsinized, and the number of cells detached after 5 min was determined and expressed as a percentage of the total number of cells. After 5 min, the primary GS-JEB keratinocytes were almost completely detached, while gentamicin-treated GS-JEB keratinocytes exhibited substantially reduced detachment that approached that observed in HKCs. Each value is the mean ± SD (n = 4).