Synergistic anticancer properties of docosahexaenoic acid and 5-fluorouracil through interference with energy metabolism and cell cycle arrest in human gastric cancer cell line AGS cells

Figure 3 Cell cycle analysis of AGS cell after docosahexaenoic acid or 5-fluorouracil treatment or DHA/5-FU co-administration. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) enhanced 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-induced cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase in AGS cells. AGS cells were exposed to medium only (control), DHA alone (30.00 μg/mL), 5-FU alone (12.5 μg/mL), or DHA (30.00 μg/mL) plus 5-FU (12.50 μg/mL) for 48 h. A: A representative set of results showing cell cycle distribution in different groups; B: An accumulation of cells in the G0/G1 phase and a decrease of cells in the S phase after treatment with DHA or 5-FU, and a significant potentiation in accumulation of cells in G0/G1 phase and reduction in S phase after the combined treatment of 5-FU with DHA. Data shown are a representative example of three separate experiments with similar results. ^aP < 0.05 vs control cells in the G0/G1 phase; ^bP < 0.05 vs control cells in the S phase; ^cP < 0.05 vs cells treated with DHA or 5-FU in the G0/G1 phase; ^dP < 0.05 vs cells treated with DHA or 5-FU in the S phase.