Macrophage morphology and viability after exposure to PLTX and to the OSTRTX extract.

<p>Optical images of macrophages incubated 4 h, 8 h and 24 h with PLTX (2 ng/ml) and the <i>O</i>. cf. <i>ovata</i> toxin extract (final OSTRTX concentration 20 ng/ml) versus cells receiving the vehicle alone (i.e. 0.05% MetOH). Pictures were taken with a magnification X 40 lens. Cell viability was measured at 4 h, 8 h and 24 h incubation with the toxins by the MTS assay. All the values are referred to cells left untreated (CTR). The graph shows the results of at least 3 independent experiments (± S.E.M.).