Thermal preconditioning protects SH-SY5Y cells from cell death and nuclear fragmentation induced by STS.

<p>(A) SH-SY5Y cells, undifferentiated (U) or neuron-like (N), were either kept at 37°C (black bars) or thermally preconditioned (striped bars) prior to treatment for 12 h with STS (50 nM). Cells were harvested and a cell viability assay (Cell Titer-Blue) was carried out. (B) Images of DAPI-stained undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells. Arrows indicate fragmented apoptotic nuclei. Similar images were obtained with neuron-like SH-SY5Y cells (data not shown). Bar = 10 µm. (C) Nuclear fragmentation was quantified in SH-SY5Y cells, undifferentiated (U) or neuron-like (N), each treated with 50 nM STS for 12 h with (striped bars) or without (black bars) thermal preconditioning. For data in panels A and C, at least 300 cells were scored for each of three independent experiments; error bars indicate standard deviation. *<i>p</i>&lt;0.05; **<i>p</i>&lt;0.01; ***<i>p</i>&lt;0.0001.