Fig 1.
Chemical structure of test compounds.
Fig 2.
Cytotoxicity tests of compounds by MTT assay.
Cells were treated with various compounds for 4h, and grown for another 20h. (A)IC50 of HeLa and HepG2 cells (B)HEK-293T cells Data represent the mean± standard deviation (n = 6).
Fig 3.
FE-SEM images of Tf-LP-Compound 2.
Table 1.
Size, ζ-potential and Encapsulation efficiency of LPs before and after coupling of Tf at pH 7.4.
Data are shown as means and standard deviation (n = 3).
Fig 4.
In vitro release of LP-Compound 2, Tf-LP-Compound 2 and free Compound 2.
Drug release during 24 h incubation in PBS (0.5%v/v Tween 80) at 37 degree C, mean SD values (n = 3) are presented.
Fig 5.
Cytotoxicity tests of various formulations in various cells.
(A) HeLa cells (B) HepG2 cells (C) HEK-293T cells. Data represent the mean± standard deviation (n = 6) (*p<0.05, ** p<0.01: Tf-LP-Compound 2 versus LP-Compound 2).
Fig 6.
Fluorescence image of HeLa and HepG2 cells stained with JC-1.
(A)Photograph showing JC-1 red, JC-1 green and merge image. (B)Numerical data were expressed in terms of the ratio of JC-1 aggregates to JC-1 monomers. Data are representative of three independent experiments and expressed as means ±SD, *p, 0.05, **p, 0.01 and ***p, 0.001 as compared with the control.
Fig 7.
Cellular uptake of LP-Compound 2 and Tf-LP-Compound 2.
Flow cytometry after incubation of LP-Compound 2, Tf-LP-Compound 2 and Tf-LP-Compound 2 with holo Tf. Data represent the mean± standard deviation (n = 3)(**p<0.01 vs LP-Compound 2).
Fig 8.
Intracellular localization of LP-Compound 2 and Tf-LP-Compound 2.
Confocal microscopy analysis after 4 h of incubation of LP-Compound 2 and Tf-LP-Compound 2 at 37°C with HeLa cells (A) and HepG2 cells (B). NBD-DOPE fluorescence is shown in green, sulforhodamine B is shown in red, and DAPI nuclear stain is shown in blue.