Fig. 1

Hibiscus extracts induce apoptosis in breast cancer. a Breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 were treated with various treatments of HE and chemotherapeutics and assessed at 48 h and 96 h. Results were obtained using image-based cytometry to assess the percentage of cells positive with fluorescence associated with Annexin V (green), PI (red), both (yellow), or negative for both Annexin V and PI (blue). Values are expressed as a mean ± SD from three independent experiments. b Fluorescence microscopy images of 1.0, 4.0 and 5.0 mg/mL HE treatment on MDA-MB-231 cells were taken at 48 h. Top panels: Brightfield and fluorescent merged images at 400x magnification. Bottom: Fluorescent images stained with Annexin V (green), PI (red), and Hoechst (blue) at 400× magnification. Scale bar is 50 μm. Images are representative of three independent experiments. Statistical calculations were performed using Two-Way ANOVA multiple comparison. *p < 0.05 vs. Control, **p < 0.01 vs. Control, ****p < 0.0001 vs. Control