Fig. 3

A Morphological image of HepG2/ADM cells incubated with 10 mg mL⁻¹ GPMQNs (→, amplification image) for 24 h (Scale bar = 50 μm); B Control. Detection of apoptotic cells by AO/EB Staining, (Panels C, D) apoptotic nuclei from HepG2/ADM cells identified by their distinctively marginated and fragmented appearance. Control cell nuclei cells are observed (Panels C a, D b) (Scale bar 50 μm). E Increased growth rate checked by GPMQNs treatments in HepG2/ADM cells. HepG2/ADM cells were treated with 1 0 mg mL⁻¹ GPMQNs (as control), 2 1 × 10⁻⁴ mg mL⁻¹ GPMQNs, 3 1 × 10⁻³ mg mL⁻¹ GPMQNs, 4 1 × 10⁻² mg mL⁻¹ GPMQNs, 5 1 × 10⁻¹ mg mL⁻¹ GPMQNs, 6 1 mg mL⁻¹ GPMQNs, 7 10 mg mL⁻¹ GPMQNs. Photothermal therapy assay of HepG2/ADM cells treated with GPMQNs. F Images of photothermal therapy for cells with 10 mg L⁻¹ GPMQNs with laser power threshold of 20 W cm⁻² for 1 min; G Without treatment as control. (Scale bar 20 μm), (*P < 0.05 compared to the control group)