Figure 3. Proteasome proteolytic activity during T.cruzi metacyclogenesis in vitro.

Peptidase activities were determined by fluorimetric quantification of the hydrolysis of specific fluorogenic substrates: trypsin-like (black bars), chymotrypsin-like (white bars) and caspase-like (gray bars) proteases. Data is shown as the activity in each parasite group analyzed in three independent experiments: three-day-old cultured epimastigotes (Epi 3d); five-day-old cultured epimastigotes (Epi 5d), five-day-old cultured epimastigotes under nutritional stress (Epi St), adhered epimastigotes after 12 h of differentiation (Adh 12 h), adhered epimastigotes after 24 h of differentiation (Adh 24 h), and metacyclic trypomastigotes (MT). Data were analyzed by multifactor ANOVA followed by Fisher's test. Statistically significant differences between groups are indicated with an asterisk (*). Differences were considered significant if the p value obtained was less than 0.05.