Figure 4.

NMDA exposure of neurons results in an increase in the beclin-1 levels in vitro. A) Lysates of neuronal cultures were obtained at time periods of 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours, treated with or without NMDA. These lysates were analyzed by immunoblots and probed with the anti-beclin-1 antibody (n = 3). B) Quantification of the autophagy protein beclin-1 bands in the immunoblots was plotted. The band intensities were normalized against the loading control. Increases in the band intensities of the beclin-1 levels were observed after NMDA-treated neuronal cultures as compared to controls. The expressed values are means ± S.E.M. (n = 3; *p < 0.05). GAPDH was used as a loading control.