Research Paper Volume 5, Issue 8 pp 623—636

Figure 2. Attenuation of Mxt-induced senescence of A549 cells by berberine (BRB) as measured by cell morphometric features and SA-β-gal activity. Exponentially growing A549 cells were untreated (Ctrl) or treated with 2 nm Mxt in the absence and presence of BRB at concentration as shown, for 5 days. Top panels: Morphometric analysis, reporting changes in nuclear area (DNA-DAPI) versus maximal pixel of DAPI fluorescence. The ratio of maximal pixel to nuclear area (Mp:A) is expressed as a fraction of that of the untreated cells; shown is the percent increase in Mp:A in the BRB-treated cultures with respect to cells growing with Mxt alone, with the arrows. Bottom panels: The frequency histograms reporting SA-β-gal activity. The figures present the increase (n-fold) in the enzyme activity with respect to the Ctrl (1.0), measured as the mean intensity of SA-β-gal absorption of cells in the respective cultures.