Fig. 3

NADH^high glioma cells exhibit characteristics of cancer stem cells in vivo. a Bioluminescent images and quantification showed that the total flux of the tumors derived from NADH^high LN229 cells (left flank) was extremely higher than that of the tumors derived from NADH^low LN229 cells (right flank) at 28 days after subcutaneous implantation in NOD/SCID mice. Also, the total photon flux of the tumors was increased with implanted cell number. Signal intensity is represented as p/s/cm²/sr. b The images of xenograft tumors showed that NADH^high LN229 cells had higher rate of tumor formation than NADH^low cells (left panel). Weight statistical diagram showed that the weight of NADH^high LN229 cell-derived tumors was heavier than that of NADH^low LN229 cell-derived tumors (right panel). c H&E staining confirmed the glioma origin of the xenograft tumors, and IHC staining showed that NADH^high LN229 cell-derived tumors expressed higher expression of Sox2 and Ki67 than NADH^low cells. Scale bar = 50 μm. All data are presented as the means ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 (n = 3 independent experiments)