Supplementary Figure 5. Silver nanoparticles induce apoptosis via NOX4-derived mitochondrial ROS and ER stress in colorectal cancer cells

Supplementary Figure 5. AgNPs inhibited tumor growth in xenograft mice without obvious side effects.

(A-C) Characterization of AgNPs in the liver homogenates of AgNP-treated mice. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of AgNPs in the liver homogenate of (A) PBS-treated control mice and (B) AgNP-treated mice. The black spots in the AgNP-treated mice were assumed to be AgNPs. (C) Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy image of AgNPs in the liver homogenate of AgNP-treated mice. The white spots were assumed to be AgNPs. (D) Individual body weight of the mice (eight mice per group) after AgNP-treatment for 30 days. The body weights of all mouse groups gradually increased over time. But the differences in the percentage of body weight were not statistically significant compared with the body weights between those six groups. (E) Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of liver and spleen sections from xenograft mice 30 days after AgNP injection. No apparent differences were identified in the histopathological features between the untreated and AgNP-treated mice. The sections of AgNP-treated mice showed fatty change and inflammation in the liver and the disruption of the architecture in the spleen. (F) Mean ± SD of the tumor weight was analyzed. Data are presented as **, P < 0.01 ***, P < 0.001, compared with the tumor control group. The average tumor volume in the tumor control group was ~2755±711 mm3 at the termination of the experiment. By contrast, treatment with AgNPs significantly reduced the tumor volume, which was 947±232 and 642±358 mm3 for the Tumor+5 μg/g AgNP group and Tumor+20 μg/g AgNP group, respectively. (G) H&E staining of the tumor sections of three different treatment groups. The histopathological findings of the tumor masses showed necrosis and focal infiltration in both the untreated and AgNP-treated groups. There were no apparent histopathological features of the tumor masses between the untreated and AgNP-treated mice.