Fig. 4

The anti-cancer effects of the Cu₂MnS₂ nanoplates and the hydrogel against 4T1 mouse breast cancer cells. a The fluorescence images of the 4T1 cells after being treated by the Cu₂MnS₂ nanoplates differently, the red color represents the dead cells stained by propidium iodide and the blue color represents the nucleus of all the cells, the white line is the boundary of the 808 nm laser; b the survival rates of the 4T1 cells measured by MTT test after being treated by the Cu₂MnS₂ nanoplates differently, ** represents statistically high significance (p < 0.01); c the fluorescence images of the lower 4T1 cells after being treated by the blank hydrogel and Cu₂MnS₂ hydrogel in the upper transwell differently, the red color represents the dead cells stained by propidium iodide and the blue color represents the nucleus of all the cells; d the caspase 3/7 expression of the Cu₂MnS₂ nanoplates treated cells, the green-stained nucleus indicate the cell apoptosis