Figure 8.

Qualitative (confocal fluorescent microscopy imaging) and quantitative (flow cytometry data) characterizations of HepG2 cells treated with 5 µM fluorescently labeled either FAM-D-17^PG (a–c) DOC or D-17^PG/FAM-17′ (d–f) duplex in DMEM medium (a,d); in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS (b,e); in DMEM supplemented with 30 µM BSA (c,f). The red bar in confocal fluorescent images corresponds to 20 µm. Our experiments are consistent with a previous study reporting micelle formation for other DNA-based amphiphilic conjugates depended on the presence of Mg²⁺ [15,16]. In another study, the authors also suggested that Mg²⁺ stabilizes all the lipid-oligonucleotides micellar assemblies, probably due to the Mg²⁺-mediated neutralization of the oligonucleotide negative charges [53].