Fig. 3

Radiation induced cell cycle arrest, autophagy and apoptotic cell death. a Histogram of DNA content in cells reflecting the G0/1, S, and G2/M phases of the cell cycle at 72 h post-irradiation. Stacked column graph shows mean percentage relative (%) ± SEM of triplicates from three independent experiments. b Histogram of autophagosome marker LC3B intensity in indicating the induction of autophagy following irradiation at 72 h post-irradiation. Grey overlay shows the profile at 0 Gy. Column graph shows mean ratio of autophagy induction relative to 0 Gy ± SEM of duplicates from three independent experiments. c Immunoblot of p62, LC3-I and II, and reference protein β-actin at 72 h post-irradiation. Band intensity was data standardised to β-actin per sample and then expressed relative to 0 Gy. Raw data is provided in Additional file 4: Fig. S2. Column graph shows mean fluorescent intensity relative to 0 Gy ± SD of from three independent experiments. d Dot plots of apoptotic marker annexin V and viability marker 7-AAD at 72 h post-irradiation. e Dot plots of apoptotic marker caspase 3/7 and viability marker 7-AAD at 72 h post-irradiation. Column and stacked column graphs show mean percentage (%) ± SEM of duplicates from three independent experiments. f Immunoblot of caspase 3 and reference protein β-actin at 72 h post-irradiation. Band intensity was data standardised to β-actin per sample and then expressed relative to 0 Gy. Raw data is provided in Additional file 4: Fig. S2. Column graph shows mean fluorescent intensity relative to 0 Gy ± SD of from three independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001 vs 0 Gy determined by two-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparison test