Fig. 1.

Mitochondrial viability and cytochrome c release in NRK-52E cells. Proximal tubular cells were exposed to different concentrations of nondelipidated albumin, fatty acid (FA)-free albumin, or palmitate at different time points and analyzed by the MTT assay. A: nondelipidated albumin [BSA(FA)] caused a time- and dose-dependent decline of mitochondrial viability, while FA-free albumin had no effect. Cells exposed to albumin-conjugated palmitate showed a time- and dose-dependent decline in their mitochondrial viability. B: representative Western blot analysis showing dose-dependent mitochondrial cytochrome c release from tubular cells treated with BSA(FA) or palmitate. *P < 0.05 vs. control, means ± SD; experiments were done in triplicate and absorbances were expressed as percentage of control. Mitochondrial cytochrome c content was considered as 100% in each group, and cytochrome c release was expressed as percentage of the corresponding mitochondrial content.