Fig. 6

Mitosis and cytokinesis abnormalities in A549 cells after treatment with fisetin (FIS) and/or paclitaxel (PTX). The A549 cells were treated with 10 µM FIS and/or 0.1 µM PTX for 24 h or left untreated (CTRL). a–l Mitotic spindles were stained with β-tubulin antibody in red color and DNA was stained by DAPI in blue color and visualized by fluorescence microscope. Arrowheads indicate: normal mitotic figures in control (a–c) and FIS-treated (d–f) cells (I) bipolar spindles; (II) metaphase cells with chromosomes aligned on the metaphase plate; (III) anaphase cells; (IV) late telophase/cytokinesis; mitosis and cytokinesis defects in PTX-treated (g–i) and co-treated (j–l) cells (V) monopolar spindles; (VI) multipolar spindles; (VII) abnormal chromosome alignments and segregation; (VIII) multipolar cell division resulting from multipolar spindles; (IX) cleavage failure as a consequence of multipolar spindles; (X) multinucleated or mononucleated interphase cells as a morphological manifestation of mitotic slippage. Bar 50 µm. m The quantification of spindles abnormalities. The percentage of cells containing normal bipolar spindles (light grey columns), multipolar spindles (dark grey columns), and monopolar spindles (white columns) was evaluated. At least 100 cells were counted on each of the three slides. Asterisks represent statistically significant differences from control cells (p < 0.05; Mann–Whitney U test). Symbols ^$ and ^# indicate statistically significant differences compared with FIS or PTX treatment alone, respectively (p < 0.05; Mann–Whitney U test)