Figure 5.

Tetracycline reduces MMP-2 and MMP-9 gene expression induced by Loxosceles venom and SMase D. HK-2 cell cultures (5 × 10⁴ cells) were incubated with venom (V: 12.5 µg/200 µL total volume) (A) or SMase D (S: 6.25 µg/200 µL total volume) (B) from L. intermedia and treated or not with tetracycline (T: 20 µg/mL). Cells treated with Phosphate-buffered saline—PBS (B) were used as negative control. MMP-2 and MMP-9 specific mRNA expression was analyzed at 48 h by RT-PCR. As control, mRNA expression of β-actin was assessed; (C) Densitometry analyses of MMP-2 and MMP-9 bands. Significant differences (*) p < 0.05.