Fig. 4

Property of axonal growth promotion by FSZ nanoparticles. (A) Schematic illustration of the co-culture of PC12 cells and FSZ nanoparticles. (B) Fluorescence images of Calcein AM-labeled PC12 cells co-cultured with with FSZ (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 μg/ml) for 6 d. Scale bar: 100 μm. (C-E) The neurite number, neurite ratio, and neurite length of PC12 cells co-cultured with FSZ (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 μg/ml) for 2, 4, and 6 days. (F-H) The growth radio of PC12 cells incubated with FSZ (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 μg/ml) for 2, 4, and 6 days. The level of growth was quantitatively divided into L0 to L6 according to the length of the neurites. Ln means that the longest neurite length is n to n + 1 times the diameter of the cell body. (I) Protein levels of NeuN, Tuj1, MAP-2, GFAP, S100-b, BDNF and GAPDH in PC12 cells incubated with FSZ (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 μg/ml) for 6 days determined by Western blot. Protein levels were quantified using ImageJ (1.53a for Mac). Data are presented as means ± SD (n = 3). Statistical analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001