Fig. 4.

Expression of autophagic proteins. (A) The expression levels of ATG12, BECLIN1, and LC3 mRNA in control and myoclonic epilepsy with ragged-red fibers (MERRF) fibroblasts measured by real time polymerase chain reaction. (B) The amount of LC3-I (upper band) and LC3-II (lower band), ATG12 and BECLIN1 protein were determined in the control and MERRF fibroblast cultures by Western blotting. The ATG12 band represents the Atg12-Atg5 conjugated form. Fibroblast cultures were grown in normal culture medium or in medium supplemented with coenzyme Q₁₀ (CoQ) (100 μM) for 72 h. Actin was used as a loading control. (C) The amount of various proteins estimated by densitometry. Actin was used as a loading control. For the control cells, the data are the mean ± SD for experiments on 2 different control cell lines. Data, expressed as arbitrary units (a.u.) represent the mean ± SD of 3 separate experiments. *p < 0.01 between control and MERRF fibroblasts. ^ap < 0.01, between the presence and the absence of coenzyme Q₁₀ (CoQ).