Figure 2.

Pantoprazole in combination with vitamin C induces apoptosis of prostate cancer cells. A total of 5x10⁵ PC3 or DU145 cells per well (6-well plate) were incubated at 37°C in slightly acidic (pH 6.5) or slightly alkaline (pH 7.5) cell culture medium with different concentrations of vitamin C for 16 h following with or without pretreatment with pantoprazole (100 µM) for 24 h: Cells were incubated in cell culture medium with a pH of 6.5 (A: PC3 cells; C: DU145 cells) or a pH of 7.5 (B: PC3 cells; D: DU145 cells). Column diagram (upper panel): quantification of the FACS results. Colorized dot plot (bottom panel): FACS analysis data with increasing vitamin C concentrations as shown in the column diagrams (orange: surviving cells; green: PI- and AV- positive cells [apoptotic cells]; blue: PI-positive cells [necrotic cells]). Upper rows of the colorized dot plots: cells were treated with vitamin C only; bottom rows of the colorized dot plots: cells were treated with vitamin C and pantoprazole. The bars represent the mean and SD of the mean of n≥3. N, not significant; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.