Additional file 1: Figure S1. of Antiproliferative and antimetabolic effects behind the anticancer property of fermented wheat germ extract

Antiproliferative properties of FWGE and DMBQ on cancer cells. 10 mg/ml FWGE exhibited cytotoxic (a) and cytostatic (b) effects after 24 h of culture. The growth delay effect in HRT-18 cells is shown in Fig. 1. Representative figures of crystal violet stained viable cancer cells treated with FWGE and DMBQ after 24 h of culture (c). DMBQ displayed a strong cytotoxic effect in all cancer cell lines. The dashed line indicates the relative initial cell count at the start of treatment. For this, the seeded cells were stained with crystal violet directly after their adherence and the absorbance was normalized to 100 %. By definition, a cytotoxic effect was a reduction in initial viable cell count >15 %, a cytostatic effect a change in initial cell count ±15 % and a delayed growth effect an increase in the initial cell count >15 %. Ascorbic acid (2.4 mmol/l) was used to activate DMBQ [16] and had no influence on cell viability or the effect of FWGE (not shown). Results are shown as mean ± standard error of mean (S.E.M.) and representative for at least three independent experiments performed in triplicate. Magnification: 80x. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 in comparison to untreated control cells. (PDF 216 kb)