Figure 1

Starvation treatment induces reversible hyperpolarization and suppression of cell division. (A) Membrane potential of MKN45 cells after starvation treatment. Membrane potential was determined using a fluorescent bioelectricity reporter, DiBAC₄(3) (green), as described in “Methods”. BF = bright field. Scale bars, 50 µm. Relative DiBAC₄(3) fluorescence intensity changes were quantified (bottom). All data are expressed as means ± SD. (B) MKN45 cells were pretreated with EBSS for 6 hours, and the membrane potential of the cells following termination of starvation treatment was detected using DiBAC₄(3) (green). BF = bright field. Scale bars, 50 µm. Relative DiBAC₄(3) fluorescence intensity changes were quantified (bottom). All data are expressed as means ± SD. (C) Western blot analysis of phosphorylation of H3 after starvation treatment. Quantitative data of optical band densitometry are shown. All data are expressed as means ± SD. **P < 0.05. (D) Proliferation rates of MKN45 cells after starvation treatment were assessed by CCK-8 assay. All data are expressed as means ± SD. (E) Western blot analysis of expression and phosphorylation of H3 after termination of starvation. Means ± SD. **P < 0.05.