Objective: To study the effect of troglitazone on autophagy and programmed cell death of HeLa cells.
Methods: Fluorescence microscopy, electron microscopy, western-blotting and flow cytometry were used.
Results: Troglitazone increased the autophagosome formation of HeLa cell as observed by fluorescence and electron microscopy. Immunoblotting further confirmed cell morphology observation upon the reagent stimulating by detecting an enhanced expression of LC3, an autophagic related gene. Besides apoptosis, troglitazone triggered a necrotic cell death in flow cytometry analysis.
Conclusion: Troglitazone induced mixed type of cell death in HeLa cells.