Figure 8

(A–F) Cytotoxicity profiles for various PTX formulations against FR-overexpressing SKOV-3 cells and FR-negative A549 cells. Short incubation regime 1: (A) A549, (B) SKOV-3 cells that were exposed to PTX formulations for 4 h followed by 68 h post-incubation in drug-free media. Long incubation regime 2: (C) A549, (D) SKOV-3 cells that were incubated with PTX formulations for 72 h. The PTX formulations contained free paclitaxel (PTX), PTX-encapsulated phosphonated calix[4]arene vesicles (PCV_PTX) and PTX-encapsulated, folate-conjugated PCV (fP-PCV_PTX) with or without free folate. Relative degrees of potentiation (DOP) of various PTX-loaded vesicle formulations compared to free PTX, calculated as [IC₅₀(free drug)/IC₅₀(drug in carrier) ×100] for each cell line following the pulsed (E) and continuous (F) incubation regime. (G) Bar graph showing the DOP of fP-PCV_PTX for each cell type in short and long incubation regimes. Statistical analysis was performed using One-way ANOVA test. Values of *P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.