Figure 1.

Toxicity of Loxosceles venom and SMase D on kidney cells. Viability: HK-2 cell cultures (5 × 10⁴ cells) were incubated with increasing concentrations of Loxosceles venom (V) (A) or SMase D (S) (B). After 24, 48 and 72 h of treatment, cell viability was analyzed by the MTT assay. Caspase-3 activation: HK-2 cells (10⁶) were incubated with 10 µg/ 200 µL total volume of venom or SMase D or Phosphate-buffered saline—PBS (B) for 3 h and the activity of Caspase-3 was analyzed in cell lysates (C). Results are representative of three independent experiments and expressed as the mean of duplicates ± standard deviation. Significant differences (*) p < 0.05 from the control (buffer treated cells).