The addition of NAC alone to H9c2 cells had no effects on apoptosis and intracellular ROS (Figure 6A, B respectively). On the other hand, the addition of NAC to either 5-FU alone or in combination with LF completely abrogated the effects of both on apoptosis and increase in the levels of ROS (Figure 6A, B respectively). We have also used H2O2 as positive control and we have found that the addition of 200 μM H2O2 to H9c2 cells caused an about 40% apoptosis with an about 2-fold increase PCI-32765 manufacturer of intracellular
ROS and that these effects were again abrogated by the concomitant administration of NAC (Figure 6A, B respectively). Figure 6 Effects of the scavenger NAC on both oxidative stress and apoptosis of H9c2cells. A) FACS analysis after double labelling with CH5183284 in vitro PI and FITC-Annexin V of H9c2 cells treated with 5-FU combined with LF or 200 μμ H2O2 or NAC alone or in combination for 48 h. The experiments were performed at least three times and the results were always similar. The results show the % of apoptotic cells derived from the sum of the events calculated as late and early apoptotic cells. Bars, SEs. CTR, untreated cells; H2O2, cells treated with 200μM H2O2 alone; NAC, cells treated with 5 mM NAC alone; NAC + H2O2, cells treated with 5 mM NAC +200μM
H2O2; 5-FU + LF, cells treated with 5-FU in combination with LF; 5-FU + LF + NAC, cells treated with 5-FU in combination with LF and 5 mM NAC. B) H9c2 were incubated with dihydroethidine and analyzed by flow cytometry as described in “Materials and Methods”. Flow cytometric analysis of H9c2 cells treated with 5-FU combined with LF or 200 μM
H2O2 or NAC alone or in combination exposed to dihydroethidine used as a probe for measurement of O2 −. Representation of the ROS levels expressed as the percentage of mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) 5-Fluoracil derived by dihydroethidine oxidation of H9c2 cells. The experiments were repeated at least three times and gave always similar results. Bars, SDs. CTR, untreated cells; H2O2, cells treated with 200μM H2O2 alone; NAC, cells treated with 5 mM NAC alone; NAC + H2O2, cells treated with 5 mM NAC +200μM H2O2; 5-FU + LF, cells treated with 5-FU in combination with LF; 5-FU + LF + NAC, cells treated with 5-FU in combination with LF and 5 mM NAC. These results strongly suggested that apoptosis induced by 5-FU in cardiocytes is likely due to the increase in intracellular ROS. Discussion In this study we have compared the effects induced by either 5-FU ± LF or DOXO on proliferation of both cardiocytes H9c2 cell line and human colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells. We have found that the GF120918 purchase antiproliferative activity of 5-FU ± LF was more pronounced in colon cancer cells than on cardiocytes and this effect was not surprising since this was on line with previous data demonstrating the in vitro activity of these drugs in colon cancer cell lines [35, 36].