Fig. 4

PS-NPs exposure induced human trophoblast cell apoptosis. (A) Cell viability of Swan 71 cells exposed to 0-200 µg/mL PS-NPs for 24 h. (B) Cell viability of Swan 71 cells exposed to 0-500 µg/mL PS-NPs for 48 h. (C-F) Cell viability of 500 µg/mL PS-NPs-exposed Swan 71 cells treated with apoptosis inhibitor cystatin Z-VAD-FMK (C), ferroptosis inhibitor Fer-1 (D), pyroptosis inhibitor Ac-FLTD-CMK (E), or necrosis inhibitor Nec-1 (F) for 48 h. (G, H) Flow cytometry analysis and their quantification of apoptosis rates (total early and late apoptosis) in 0-200 µg/mL PS-NPs-exposed Swan 71 cells for 24 h. (I) TEM image of 0 or 200 µg/mL PS-NPs-exposed Swan 71 cells (scale bar, 5 μm; PS-NPs were indicated by yellow arrows; cell pyknosis, nuclear membrane wrinkling, chromatin aggregation, division, and edge shift were indicated by red dashed line; apoptotic bodies were indicated by red arrows). (J-L) Western blot analysis and the relative quantification of the protein levels of Caspase-3 and Cleaved-caspase-3 in 0-200 µg/mL PS-NPs-exposed Swan 71 cells for 24 h