Figure 5: Curcumin alone and in micelles significantly decreased the mitochondrial metabolic activity of human glioblastoma cells. U251N human glioblastoma cells co-treated with pifithrin-α (PFT-α 50 μM) and curcumin alone ([curcumin]: 5-30 μM) or curcumin in micelles were assayed for changes in mitochondrial metabolic activity using the MTT assay. Cells were treated with: (A) increasing concentration of curcumin (5-30 µM) for 24, 20, 16 hours along with 0, 4, 8 hours of pifithrin-α, respectively, or pifithrin-α for 4 hours followed by a 20-hour treatment with curcumin incorporated into (PEG750)2–PCL4700 micelles ([curcumin]: 5-35 µM) (B) or curcumin incorporated into (PEG750)2–PCL14200 micelles ([curcumin]: 5-35 µM) (C). Treatments were significant (p < 0.05) vs untreated control starting at 10 µM (A), 10 µM (B), and 10 µM (C). Mean values ± SEM are calculated based on experiments ran in triplicates. Statistically significant differences from control were calculated using a t-test of OriginPro software.