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. 2012 Sep 24;7(9):e45697. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045697

Figure 6. Effect of prolonged moderate exercise on Nrf2/ARE-Antioxidants in the aging heart.

Figure 6

Representative immunoblots of cytosolic extracts from the hearts of young and old mice under basal conditions and following 6-weeks of moderate exercise training (MET). Protein blots were probed with respective antibodies as indicated. Individual lanes represent separate animals (n = 4–6/group). A. Analysis of nuclear Nrf2 in young and old mice subjected to MET. In sedentary mice, Nrf2 protein levels were decreased significantly in old when compared to young (*p<0.05). Following MET, nuclear Nrf2 levels were significantly increased in old mice to levels equivalent to those of young mice (#, $p<0.05 in MET vs. respective basal). (B) Densitometry analysis of respective protein signals were performed using Image-J and expressed relative to mean values of the sedentary-young group. Under basal conditions, a significant decrease in the protein levels of GSR, G6PD, NQO1, catalase, GPX1 and GCS were observed in the heart tissues of old when compared to young mice. Following 6-weeks of moderate exercise, most of the antioxidants were significantly (*p<0.05) upregulated or stabilized in the aging heart.