Figure 5.

NACET pretreatment predisposes RPE cells to oxidative stress resistance. Cells were incubated for 16 h with NAC or NACET, washed with phosphate-buffered saline solution (PBS) and treated with H₂O₂ for 30 min (a–c) or with t-BOOH for 15 min (d) or 1 h (e,f) at the indicated concentrations. Viability was measured after 16 h (a,d) (mean ± SD, number of replicates = 3). The p-values for the comparison of the treated vs. untreated cells (point 0) are indicated in black, while the p-values for the comparison between the cells treated with equal concentrations of NAC or NACET are indicated in red. Ns, not significant differences. (b,c,e,f) The reactive oxygen species (ROS) content was measured by CellROX Green dye staining and FACS analysis immediately after H₂O₂ or t-BOOH treatments (mean ± SD, number of replicates = 3). ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001.