Figure 7. Mitochondrial dynamics includes both fusion and fission mediators to exchange the contents of mitochondria and control mitochondrial morphology.

The significant decrease of fusion protein levels including Mfn-1, Mfn-2, and Opa1 in the IHC (a) and Western blot (b) were noticed in Tan IIA treatment group in comparison with those in none-treated groups. In addition, the significant increase of the fission protein Drp1 was noted in Tan IIA treatment group. 143B cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of Tan IIA for 24 hours. Cell lysates were subjected to Western blot analysis using antibodies such as Mfn-1, Mfn-2, Opa1 and Drp-1 related to mitochondrial dynamics and β-actin as a housekeeping control protein. (c) There was a significant decrease in Mfn-1, Mfn-2 and Opa1 related to fusion protein, however, there was a significant increase in Drp-1 related to fission protein. (d) Effect of Drp1-siRNA on the cellular Drp1 protein was expressed by immunoblot analysis in 143B cells. They were transfected with Drp1 and control siRNA and co-treated with Tan IIA (20 μM) for 24 h, then harvested for Western blot and normalized with β-actin. Quantification of corresponding densitometric analysis demonstrated Drp1 protein levels in 143B cells. The bar value is the mean ± SD of three independent experiments in duplicate. An asterisk demonstrates the significant difference (p < 0.05) between control and Tan IIA-treated groups. The Western blot data from cell culture represent one of the three independent experiments.