Figure 1.

3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays on colon adenocarcinoma cell line-2 (Caco-2) cells: (A) Viability (%) of Caco-2 cells treated with different concentrations (10–500 μg ml⁻¹) of raw bee-collected pollen (Raw-BCP; black bars), Unstarted-BCP (white), and Started-BCP (gray). Percent viability was determined through the MTT assay and it was calculated respect to untreated Caco-2 cells; (B) LDH release (%) into culture medium by the Caco-2 cells treated with different concentrations (10–500 μg ml⁻¹) of Raw-BCP (black bars), Unstarted-BCP (white), and Started-BCP (gray). Percent cytotoxicity was calculated as follows: % Cytotoxicity = [(BCP-treated LDH activity – Spontaneous LDH activity)/(Maximum LDH activity – Spontaneous LDH activity)] × 100. Untreated Caco-2 cells are referred to as Spontaneous LDH Activity, whereas 20% triton x-100 treated cells are referred to as Maximum LDH Activity (dotted bar). Data are the means (± SD) of three biological replicates analyzed in triplicate. Bars with different superscript letters are significantly different (p < 0.05).