Annexin V/7-AAD Staining. Second generation of spheroids was collected and centrifuged and pellets were trypsinized and washed twice with PBS. The cells were stained with FITC labeled annexin V/7-AAD (7-aminoactinomycine-D) according to the manufacturer's indication (annexin V/7-AAD kit; Beckman Coulter, Marseille, France). In particular, a washed cell pellet (5 × 104 cells/mL) was resuspended in 500 μL binding buffer; 10 μL of annexin V together with 20 μL 7-AAD was added to 470 μL cell suspension. The cells were incubated for 15 min on ice in the dark. Apoptosis assay was performed three times.
ALDH, cell cycle, and apoptosis were evaluated by flow cytometry using an EPICS Coulter XL (Beckman-Coulter Inc.). Data were analyzed by Modfit LT Software (Veruty Software Inc., USA).