Figure 2.

The changes in mitochondrial potential caused by Aβ were attributable to the activation of an NADPH oxidase. (a) The NADPH oxidase inhibitor apocynin (1 mM) prevented any significant change in mitochondrial potential in response to Aβ but had no effect at all on the Aβ induced calcium signals (n=84 cells) in mouse cortical astrocytes. Similar responses were seen to the other NADPH oxidase inhibitors AEBSF (20 μM, n=44 cells) and DPI (0.5 μM; n=111 cells). (b) Astrocytes cultured from the cortex of transgenic mice with knockout of gp91^phox expression also showed no mitochondrial response to Aβ while the calcium response was unaffected (n=97 cells).