Figure 1.

EPO and EPO inducer EH-201 stimulate mitochondrial activity in primary astrocytes and neuron-like PC12 cells. (A, C) EPO treatment for 24 h increased PGC-1α mRNA expression in primary astrocytes and PC12 cells. The expression of GAPDH was used as an internal control. The results are expressed as the relative index of untreated controls (means± SD) from at least three independent measurements. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01; significantly different from control; one-way anova followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test. (B, D, K, M) Mitochondrial activity was determined by the succinate dehydrogenase activity of astrocytes and PC12 cells that were treated with rhEPO or EH-201 for 24 h using an MTT reduction assay and is expressed relative to the respective control conditions. The values indicate the means ± SD (n = 8), *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 compared with untreated controls,; Student's t-test. (E, F) EH-201 treatment for 24 h increased EPO mRNA and protein expression in astrocytes and (G, H) PC12 cells. (I, J) EH-201-treated primary astrocytes with or without the neutralizing EPO antibody (nEPO-ab, 1 μg·mL⁻¹) were analysed for PGC-1α mRNA and protein expression. (L) EH-201 treatment for 24 h increased PGC-1α mRNA expression in PC12 cells. The expression of GAPDH was used as an internal control. The results are expressed as the relative index of untreated controls means ± SD from at least three independent measurements. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, significantly different from control; by one-way anova followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test.