Fig. 5.

siRNA-mediated suppression of fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase 3A2 (ALDH3A2) prevents the increase in phosphorylation of AMP-kinase and HMG-CoA reductase by policosanol. ALDH3A2 mRNA was quantified by RT-PCR with the primers listed in Table 1; control cells contained a plasmid with a scrambled siRNA sequence. Phosphorylated AMP-kinase and HMG-CoA reductase were measured by immunoquantitation. Cells were incubated with 15 μg/ml of policosanol for 3 h as indicated. Values represent the mean and standard deviation of 2–3 experiments; values that are statistically different from the corresponding day control (mRNA levels) or the policosanol-treated control are indicated with asterisks, as determined by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-hoc test, p < 0.05. Co control cells, Ex cells transfected with ALDH3A2 siRNA plasmid; ‘D’ indicates day post-transfection; ‘P’ indicates policosanol treatment