4d). The partial protective selleck compound effect was characterized by a significant decrease in apoptotic cells compared to TRD alone (fig. 4e+f). Co-incubation with BSO did not result in any significant effect on cell viability, apoptosis and necrosis compared to TRD alone (fig. 6d-f) (table 2). Compared to all other cell lines, HT1080 cells were characterized by a unique and occasionally completely contrary response to radical scavenging by NAC (fig. 4g-i). NAC co-incubation did not result in cell rescue but led to further significant reduction of viable cells compared to TRD alone (fig. 4g). This deleterious effect of NAC was mirrored by significantly enhanced

apoptosis and necrosis compared to TRD alone (fig. 4h+i). Co-incubation with BSO did not result in any significant effect on cell viability, apoptosis and necrosis compared to TRD alone CFTRinh-172 solubility dmso (fig. 5g-i). The results for 6 hours co-incubation with NAC and BSO are provided in additional file 2 and 3, respectively and summarized in table 2. The reversibility of TRD

induced cell death by caspase inhibition is divergent mTOR inhibitor and cell line specific Overall, there was no effect on cell viability, apoptosis or necrosis of z-VAD alone in any of the five cell lines. HT29 was the only cell line with a complete protection of TRD induced cell death by z-VAD co-incubation and thus a complete reversibility of TRD induced cell death (fig. 8a). The relatively mild reduction of viable cells by TRD to 69.6% ± 0.3% was significantly abrogated by z-VAD co-incubation and not different from untreated controls (fig. 8a). The protective effect was associated with a significant decrease of apoptotic cells (fig. 8b) without any detectable effect on necrosis (fig. 8c). Figure 8 Effects of caspase-inhibition on Taurolidine

induced cell death in HT29, Chang Liver and HT1080 cells. HT29 (a-c), Chang Liver (d-f) and HT1080 cells (g-i) were incubated with either z-VAD.fmk (1 μM), Taurolidine (TRD) (250 Molecular motor μM) or the combination of both agents (TRD 250 μM + zVAD.fmk 1 μM) and with Povidon 5% (control) for 24 h. The percentages of viable (a, d, g), apoptotic (b, e, h) and necrotic cells (c, f, i) were determined by FACS-analysis for Annexin V-FITC and Propidiumiodide. Values are means ± SEM of 5 (HT29), 6 (Chang Liver) and 4 (HT1080) independent experiments with consecutive passages. Asterisk symbols on brackets indicate differences between treatment groups. *** p ≤ 0.001, ** p ≤ 0.01, * p ≤ 0.05 (one-way ANOVA). In Chang Liver and HT1080 cells, the TRD induced cell death was only partially reversible by z-VAD dependent caspase inhibition. The rescue effect of z-VAD co-incubation did not lead to the same cell viability like untreated controls. In Chang Liver cells, the protective effect of z-VAD co-incubation compared to TRD alone was relatively small (45.7% ± 1.8% vs. 37.4% ± 2.6%) although it reached statistical significance (fig. 8d).