Fig. 3.

Cytotoxic effect and apoptosis induced by Cur@α-NTP-LNs. a, b Quantitative flow cytometric analysis of the mortality rates of 5-8F cells treated with a serial Cur concentration of a free Cur and Cur@α-NTP-LNs or a serial peptide concentration of b Cur@α-NTP-LNs and α-NTP-LNs (n ≥ 6). c, d Quantitative flow cytometry analysis of cell apoptosis rates of 5-8F cells treated with PBS or 100 µM free Cur, Cur@α-NTP-LNs, or peptide equivalent α-NTP-LNs (200 µM peptide) for 24 h, in which c is the dot plot presentation (APC-Annexin V/PI) of the representative data and d is the quantification of the apoptosis obtained in c after four independent experiments. Results are presented as mean ± s.d. (n = 4). ^***p < 0.001 and ^**p < 0.01. e Images of 5-8F cell colonies after the treatment with PBS or 25 µM free Cur, Cur@α-NTP-LNs, and peptide equivalent α-NTP-LNs (50 µM peptide). f Quantitative analyses of the colony number per field in each treatment group of e