Fig. 1
Exposure to CoCl2 significantly reduces viability, while treatment with rapamycin increases viability during exposure. a CoCl2 decreases HT22 viability in a dose-dependent manner. HT22 cells were treated at 70% confluence in 96-well plates with the indicated concentrations of CoCl2 (0–1 mM) for 24 h followed by assessment of cell viability using the resazurin viability assay. ***p < 0.001 versus control. b Assessment of changes in cell viability caused by rapamycin treatment only. Cells were treated with the indicated amount of rapamycin (0-10 µM), or an equal volume containing the same percent of DMSO, for 24 h before assessing viability as in A. ##p < 0.01 versus control; *p < 0.05 versus matched DMSO; **p < 0.01 versus matched DMSO; ***p < 0.001 versus matched DMSO. c Rapamycin-induced protection during CoCl2 exposure. HT22 cells were exposed to 250 µM CoCl2 for 24 h together with the indicated doses of rapamycin. Assessment of viability was performed with the resazurin viability assay. *p < 0.05 versus control; **p < 0.01 versus control; ***p < 0.001 versus control. d Morphological assessment after CoCl2 exposure and rapamycin treatment. Representative images are shown from cells exposed 24 h to 0, 250, or 500 µM CoCl2. An additional group was exposed for 24 h with 250 µM CoCl2 plus 500 nM rapamycin. Photomicrographs were taken under a standard light microscope at 20X magnification