Figure 7.

ROS activates 5′ adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) to facilitate mitochondrial elongation. (a) Primary microglial cultures were treated for 2 or 12 hr with or without hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and the selective AMPK inhibitor, Compound C (Comp C), and then subjected to Western blotting (WB) and immunostaining (ICC). Western blotting of AMPK phosphorylated at Thr172 (p-AMPK) with treatments of H₂O₂ and Comp C (b, left), and quantification of the Western blotting analyses (b, right) are shown. *p < 0.05 in the t-test (N = 6). Each dot represents each replicate and means (bars) are shown. Representative images (c–f) and the measured lengths (g) of TOM20-immunopositive mitochondrial profiles with treatments of H₂O₂ and Comp C. N = 1975 (control), 4536 (H₂O₂ 2 hr), 3156 (H₂O₂ 12 hr), 3486 (H₂O₂ 2 hr + Comp C), and 2966 (H₂O₂ 12hr + Comp C) for mitochondria. n.s.: not significant and ****p < 0.0001 in the U-test. Medians (g, bars) with quartile ranges (g, boxes) are shown. Bars: 20 μm.