Figure 2. Δ⁹-THC but not pioglitazone induces mitochondrial biogenesis.

Western blot showing the effect of MPP⁺, Δ⁹-THC, pioglitazone (pio) and T0070907 (T) on A. PGC-1α expression (n = 5, one-way ANOVA with Scheffe post-hoc test), B. NRF1 expression (n = 5, one-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD post-hoc test) and C. TFAM expression (n = 3, one-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD post-hoc test). D. QPCR on genomic DNA extracts to determine the ratio between mitochondrial and genomic DNA. Cells were treated with MPP⁺, Δ⁹-THC, pioglitazone (pio) and T0070907 (T) (n = 3, one-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD post-hoc test). E. Western blot showing the effect of MPP⁺, Δ⁹-THC, pioglitazone (pio) and T0070907 (T) on COX4 expression (n = 4, one-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD post-hoc test). Protein data were corrected to β-actin levels which served as loading control. Each bar represents the mean ± SEM (#p<0.05, ##p<0.01, ###p<0.0001 vs. MPP⁺).