Figure 9.

Early and late endosomes are close to mitochondria in VacA-intoxicated cells. Wt MEF cells were incubated for 12 h with H. pylori CS, either wt or P9A mutant, before being processed for immunofluorescence. (Left panels) anti-Rab5 (green staining) and anti-TOM20 (red staining) antibodies were used to label early endosomal and mitochondrial membranes, respectively. (Right panels) anti-LBPA (green staining) was used to label late endosomal membranes. Scale bars, 10 μm. Squares containing a magnification of a detail show the evident colocalization between endosomal and mitochondrial markers in cells exposed to the wt toxin. Cells not exposed to H. pylori CS are defined as untreated cells. All these images are representative of 60 cells per condition examined from three separate experiments. Mean±S.D. (n=3, 20 cells per experiment) of colocalization data are reported. Significance was determined using Student’s t-test for paired data of wt CS-intoxicated cells versus untreated cells/cells exposed to 326 P9A. ***P<0.01