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Fig. 3 | Breast Cancer Research

Fig. 3

From: Glucocorticoids induce production of reactive oxygen species/reactive nitrogen species and DNA damage through an iNOS mediated pathway in breast cancer

Fig. 3

Stress hormones induce DNA damage and impact repair. MCF-7 cells (a) and MDA-MB-231 cells (b) were incubated with cortisol (Cort) (1 μM) and norepinephrine (NE) (1 μM) for 2 h in the presence and absence of RU486 (1 μM) and the specific nitric oxide synthase blocker 1400W (10 μM). Cells were immunofluorescently labelled and scored as positive when there were more than five foci. c-d Representative image of fluorescein isothiocyanate and 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. e MDA-MB-231 cells were exposed to cortisol (1 μM) and NE (1 μM) for 30 minutes and assessed for DNA damage using the comet assay. Comet tails indicating DNA strand breaks were visually scored according to intensity (0–4). f Representative comet tails in treated and untreated cells and cells after a 20-minute repair period. Data are mean ± SEM and significance was determined using one-way analysis of variance (post hoc Tukey multiple comparisons). *Significant increase compared to the control; †significant decrease compared to cortisol: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

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