Fig. 1

Cortisol effects on myoepithelial, MCF10A and MCF10DCIS cell viability, cell cycle and apoptosis. a Cell viability evaluation by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay after 48 h of increasing doses of cortisol treatment (0.1–10 μM). b Cell cycle distribution was determined by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and Propidium iodide (PI) assay after 48 h of treatment with cortisol 0.7 μM or vehicle (methanol) and evaluated by flow cytometry. c Graphic representation of cell cycle distribution in percentages by the population evaluated. d Cell apoptosis in its different stages (early apoptosis, apoptosis and late apoptosis) was determined after cortisol treatment with 0–1 μM doses by the Annexin V method and measured by flow cytometry. All experiments were carried out in triplicate. The Mann-Whitney test was used for statistical analysis