Cells increase their size in response to different types of chronic stress.
(A) Flow cytometric quantification of cell viability after 4 days of 10 μM sodium arsenite (Ars), 1% hypoxia (Hypo), or L-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (AZC) treatment (5 μM) (n = 3 biologically independent samples for Ars, Hypo, and AZC, respectively, for all cell lines). (B) Flow cytometric quantification of cell size after 4 days of treatment with 10 μM sodium arsenite (Ars), 1% hypoxia (Hypo), or 5 µM L-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (AZC) (n = 4, 3, and 4 for Ars, Hypo, and AZC, respectively for HEK; for A549, n = 3, 3, and 4 for Ars, Hypo, and AZC, respectively; for RPE1, n = 3, 3, and 3 biologically independent samples for Ars, Hypo, and AZC, respectively). (C) Cell diameters of cells subjected to 7 days of mild HS, measured with an automated cell counter; the bar graph on the left shows absolute values whereas the one on the right shows the same data as % changes relative to cells left at control conditions (samples C); n = 4 samples. (D) Scanned images of plates with crystal violet-stained cells (representative images of n = 3 independent experiments). (E) Flow cytometric analysis of cell cycle after 1 week in chronic HS and post HS recovery (n = 3 biologically independent samples). The data are represented as mean values ± SEM for all bar and line graphs. The statistical significance between the groups was analyzed by two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-tests.