Figure 1.

Oxidant stress induces kidney proximal tubular epithelial cell death through different mechanisms. Human kidney proximal tubular epithelial cells (HKC-8) were treated with different concentrations of H₂O₂ as indicated for 16 hours in the absence of serum. A. Cell survival rate. B. Western blot analyses demonstrated the cleavage and activation of pro-caspase-3 in HKC-8 cells after treatment with different concentrations of H₂O₂ as indicated. C. Quantitative determination of active caspase-3 activity after H₂O₂ treatment. Data are presented as means ± SEM of three experiments. ** P < 0.01; * P < 0.05 verse controls. D. LDH activity in the supernatants of HKC-8 cells after H₂O₂ treatment. Data are presented as means ± SEM of three experiments. ** P < 0.01 verse controls.