Fig. 5

Effect of selected lipid flux inhibitors and oleic acid on cholesterol balance in PANC-1 cells. Cells were incubated for 48 h in DMEM supplemented with 1% FBS, with or without the presence of OA (100 µM), FC (50 µM) and various enzyme inhibitors (10 µM for HSL/MGLL-i and NCEH1-i, 5 µM for SOAT1-i and HMGCR-i). A. Expression of key proteins involved in cellular cholesterol storage, synthesis and efflux. B. Cellular content of FC and CE. C. Representative images of cells stained with Filipin, indicating cellular distribution of FC. D. Quantification of Filipin-positive cell area in C. Results are presented as means ± SD in B (n = 4) and means ± 95% confidence interval in D (n = 20–25 images). *p < 0.05 comparing inhibitors with DMSO; ^#p < 0.05 comparing OA treatment with no OA treatment). CE cholesteryl esters, FC free cholesterol, OA oleic acid