Fig. 1

Morphological and biological characteristic differences between LNCaP and LNCaP-AI cells. Morphological: a, c The initial morphology of LNCaP cells before culture was a large cell body and short synapses; b, d The NE phenotype of LNCaP-AI cells exhibited shrinkage and rounding of the cell body and long synapses; the synapses wove a net between cells (magnification, 100x and 200x). Biological: e LNCaP-AI cell proliferation was significantly higher than that of LNCaP cells in androgen-free medium (p = 0.001). f The proliferation of LNCaP-AI cells in androgen-free medium was similar to that of LNCaP-AI and LNCaP cells in androgen-containing medium (P = 0.419). g In the hormone-free environment, LNCaP-AI cell PSA secretion was not affected, but LNCaP cells were significantly inhibited on day 6. Bars represent the mean ± SD of 3 replicates