Green Tea Leaves and Rosemary Extracts Selectively Induce Cell Death in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells and Cancer Stem Cells and Enhance the Efficacy of Common Chemotherapeutics

Figure 9

STE is dependent on the depolarization of cancerous mitochondrial membrane potential to induce apoptosis. (a) MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with chemotherapeutics Taxol and cisplatin individually and in combination with STE and RE and assessed at 48 hours. Results were obtained by using image-based cytometry to assess the percentage of cells positive with fluorescence associated with mitochondrial membrane potential (TMRM, fluoresces red). Treatment groups were compared with the negative control DMSO. Values are expressed as a mean ± SD from three independent experiments. vs control, vs control, and vs control. (b) Fluorescent microscopy of triple-negative breast cancer cells stained with TMRM (red) and counterstained with Hoechst (blue) at 200x magnification. Overlays of both fluorescent channels are on the left, and the red channel alone is on the right. Images are representative of three independent experiments.

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