Fig. 4
ZER-ICG-NMs mediated melanoma cells apoptosis, up-regulates Bax and Capsease-3 expression in melanoma cells. (A) Cell viability of B16F10 and A375 cells treated with various NMs with or without NIR exposure. Cells were exposed to different NMs, and cytotoxicity was evaluated using the CCK-8 assay (n = 5). Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD) from three independent experiments conducted in triplicate; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; (B) The living/dead fluorescence images of tumor cells after different treatments (n = 3). (C,D) Images and corresponding quantification results of mitochondrial membrane potential (n = 3). (E,F) Flow cytometry analysis and statistical assessment of apoptosis in B16F10 cells after 2 h of treatment with the indicated groups. The ZER-ICG-NMs combined with NIR treatment triggered the most significant apoptotic response (n = 3). (G,H) Bax and Caspase-3 mRNA expression levels in B16F10 cells were detected by quantitative qPCR. ZER-ICG-NMs with NIR could successfully up-regulate the expression of Bax and Caspase-3 at mRNA levels (n = 3). (I) The wound scratch assay and (K) quantitative analysis of cells with different treatments for 48 h (n = 3). (J) The cell migration ability and (L) quantitative analysis of tumor cells with different treatments (n = 3).
