Fig. 1

CBP uptake and effects on cell viability in mesothelioma cells. a) Fluorescence microscope analysis of MSTO cells incubated with DAPI (i) or with DAPI/CBP (ii) for 10′. Cellular uptake was analysed by curcumin intrinsic autofluorescence using a GFP filter. DAPI was used to counterstain nuclei. (b) Bioperine alone does not affect MSTO cell viability even when used 10X concentrated respect to the amount of BP present in CBP used for the experiments. c) Curcumin and Bioperine combined treatment increases C3 Complex bioactivity determining a cell viability decrease in dose dependent manner. d) Time-course measurement of cell viability decrease in different mesothelioma cell lines treated with 20 μM CBP for the indicated time. Cell viability was determined by crystal violet assay and cell viabilities are depicted as percentages. CTRL: untreated cells used as control. The indicators represent the average ± SD of independent experiments (n = 3). Statistically significant difference compared to untreated cells: ***p ≤ 0.001, ****p ≤ 0.0001. CRTL: untreated cells