Figure 5. R9-SOCS3-KIR prevented paraquat-mediated oxidative damage to RPE-like cells. A: ARPE-19 cells were seeded in eight-well slides and grown overnight before being transferred to a serum-free medium. They were pre-treated with R9-SOCS3-KIR or its control peptide (both at 20 μM) for 1 h and then with paraquat at 300 μM for 48 h. The cells were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and imaged with a confocal microscope. Scale bar: 50 μm. B: Cell survival was assessed in cells grown and treated as in (A) using CellTiter Aqueous reagent (Promega), and absorbance was determined using a plate reader. Absorbance in untreated cells was set to 100%. Survival in the other treatments was calculated. One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test for multiple comparisons were used. ****, p < 0.0001.