Cells were stained with DMSO-dissolved Nile-red (1 mg/mL).
The fluorescence was measured with excitation at 488 nm and
emission at 575 nm by flow cytometry (FACSCalibur, Becton,
Dickinson, CA, USA). Intracellular lipid distribution was monitored
by fluorescence microscopy following Nile-red staining [13]. Nuclei
were stained with Hoechst. The fluorescence intensity for each
image was adjusted differently to maximize the quality. Image
processing was performed equally and simultaneously to all
groups and was carried out using GIMP 1.2 software and/or ImageJ
(background subtraction, Fig. 1B).