Fig. 2.
Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediates autophagy activation in response to mechanical ventilation. Wild-type (WT) and gp91phox−/− mice were pretreated with the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant SS-31, a scavenger for mitochondrial ROS, and then ventilated with a high tidal volume (MV) for 2 h. At the end of experiments, lung tissues were recovered. Top, representative Western blots for LC3-I and LC3-II; bottom, bar graph showing the relative abundance of LC3-II protein (normalized to that of GAPDH) from 3 experiments. *P < 0.05 vs. the control (nonventilated and nontreated) group, †P < 0.05 vs. corresponding MV alone group.