(A) Effect of BiZn on HK-2 cells in inducing MT protein generation. Cells were treated with BiZn (100 μM) for the indicated time. Protein lysates were assayed by Western blotting, and beta-actin was used as the loading control. Results were representative of three independent experiments. (B) Effect of BiZn on HK-2 cells in inducing MT gene expression. Cells were treated with BiZn (10 μM and 100 μM) for 6 hours. MT mRNA expression was assayed by RT-qPCR. MT IA and IIA mRNA was upregulated when compared with control cells (n = 3, bismuth compounds vs. control group, *P < .05, **P < .01, and ***P < .001). (C) The cytotoxic effects of cisplatin-treated HK-2 and the MT-IIA shRNA-mediated knockdown cells were analyzed by XTT assay. The effects of cisplatin-treated cells in 48 hours and 72 hours were shown. (n = 3, cisplatin vs. control group, ***P < .001 and MT-IIA shRNA-mediated knockdown HK-2 cell vs. control group, *P < .05).