Figure 1.

Autophagy protects against foam cell formation in oxLDL-treated VSMCs. (a–c) Primary VSMCs from wild-type (WT) mice were incubated with oxLDL (80 μg/ml) for different times (0, 1, 6, 12 or 24 h). LC3II/LC3I ratio and beclin-1 level were decreased and the level of p62 was increased in a time-dependent manner, with an obvious effect at 24 h post oxLDL challenge; *P<0.05 versus 0 h. (d–g) Primary VSMCs from WT mice were treated with either the vehicle solution (con) or oxLDL (80 μg/ml) in the absence or presence of rapamycin (Rap; 10 nM) and 3-methyladenine (3-MA; 5 mM) as indicated for 24 h. Rap rescued, whereas 3-MA exacerbated, the impaired autophagy in oxLDL-treated VSMCs, manifested by the changes of LC3-II/LC3-I ratio (d) and GFP-labeled autophagosomes (e). Rap reduced whereas 3-MA increased lipid droplet accumulation and intracellular cholesterol content (f and g); *P<0.05 versus con; ^#P<0.05 versus oxLDL alone. Results were presented as mean±S.D. (error bars) of three independent experiments