Figure 2.

Zingerone NPs elicited a superior anti-tumorigenicity in three human OSCC Ca9-22, Cal-27, and SAS cell lines in vitro. Cells were treated with various doses of zingerone and/or zingerone NPs for 7–10 days. The colony formation was further stained and detected using crystal violet staining. The zingerone NP-mediated anti-tumorgenicity on Ca9-22 cells (A), Ca1-27 cells (B), and SAS cells (C) was observed and recorded using inverted microscopy. Quantitative analysis of colony formation was performed, and either colony numbers or colony survival rate for (D) Ca9-22 cells, (E) Ca1-27 cells, and (F) SAS cells, respectively, were further counted and determined using absorbance detection at 595 nm. All data are expressed as the mean ± SEM of three experiments. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.