Fig. 1

Trichomonas vaginalis-induced cytotoxicity and mitochondrial ROS production in SiHa cells. SiHa cells were infected with live T. vaginalis trophozoites at MOI 2 and 5 for 0, 2 or 6 h. a The LDH level in the medium, which is related to cell death, was measured by LDH assay at the indicated conditions. The data represent the mean value ± standard deviaiton (SD) of at least three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate significant difference (***P < 0.001) compared with untreated control cells under the same conditions. b, c Cellular ROS production was measured with CellROX reagent, a fluorogenic probe for measuring oxidative stress in live cells by confocal microscopy (b) and flow cytomery (c). d, e Mitochondrial ROS production was determined by confocal microscopy (d) and flow cytometry with MitoSOX, a mitochondrial ROS dye (e). Plots (c, e) depict the CellROX or MitoSOX-positive cells as determined by fluorescence analysis of flow cytometry results. Data shown are representative of three independent experiments with similar results. Asterisks indicate significant difference (***P < 0.001) in mean fluorescence compared with untreated control cells under the same conditions Scale bars: 10 µm. Abbreviations: CTL, Untreated control SiHa cells; Tv, SiHa cells infected with live T. vaginalis