Fig. 2.

Nano-Et₃PAuCl affects cell viability of human CRC cell line. a Curves and IC₅₀ values (nM) of Et₃PAuCl and of its encapsulated form in HCT-116 cell line. Cell viability was measured after 24 h of treatment, by the Trypan Blue exclusion test. Curves and IC₅₀ values resulted by means of six independent experiments and they were then calculated fitting the experimental data with Origin Software Hill1-type equation. b Representative bright field and fluorescence images of nanoparticles cellular distribution in cancer cell suspensions, using fluorescence microscopy. c Histogram of fluorescence analysis relative to corrected total cell fluorescence (CTCF) obtained by ImageJ software. Data are reported as means ± SEM of 5–7 cells for each time point and every experimental condition was investigated in duplicate. The significance of differences between groups was calculated through t test. ^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01. [‘CTCF’ (ctrl vs 1 h, p = 3.3 × 10^–5; ctrl vs 2 h, p = 9.3 × 10^–8; ctrl vs 4 h, p = 9.3 × 10^–10)]