Figure 6.

Starvation-induced autophagy is sensitive to PI3K inhibition and beclin 1 siRNA in SH-SY5Y cells. A: SH-SY5Y cells were washed and incubated in the presence or absence of amino acids for 1 hour and analyzed by LC3 Western blot. The ability of 3-MA (MA; 5 mmol/L) or of WT (0.1 μmol/L) to inhibit the LC3-II shift was evaluated. B: SH-SY5Y cells were treated with control siRNA or beclin 1 siRNA (10 nmol/L) for 3 days before being switched to either amino acid-containing or amino acid-deprived media for 1 hour and subjected to LC3 Western blot analysis. C and D: Amino acid-deprived SH-SY5Y cells that had previously been treated with either control siRNA (C) or beclin 1 siRNA (D) were stained with MDC. Scale bar = 10 μm.