Figure 3.

Effects of lopinavir and nelfinavir on the aspartyl-type activity of Fractions B1 and B2 of the reservosomes. The aspartyl-type peptidase activity (act) was quantified fluorometrically over cathepsin D substrate in the absence (control: black bars) or in the presence of lopinavir and nelfinavir at 10 μM. The classical aspartyl peptidase inhibitors pepstatin A and DAN at 10 µM were also included in the assays. The results are expressed as fluorescence arbitrary units (FAUs), which represent the fluorescence liberated by the fluorophore in 60 min of reaction. Values represent the mean ± standard deviation of three independent experiments. The black stars represent significant statistical differences in systems with pepstatin A compared to the respective controls (p < 0.01).