Figure 8. Regulation of AMPK expression and activity by dietary salt in total kidney lysates.

After 7 days on different salt diets, kidneys were harvested and total proteins were extracted and separated by SDS‐PAGE. A, western blotting experiments for the 5′ AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway including total and phosphorylated AMPK (pAMPK) in addition to total (ACC) and phosphorylated acetyl‐CoA carboxylase (pACC). Representative immunoblots from three animals from each group are shown. B, bar graphs showing densitometric quantification of western blots.  β‐Actin was used as a loading control. Statistical analysis showed a significant increase in pAMPK and pACC levels in kidneys from mice under HSD. LSD induced a significant reduction in total AMPK abundance but increased the phosphorylation level of ACC. Values are means ± SEM from six mice in each group. LSD and HSD were compared to NSD; ^* P < 0.05, ^** P < 0.01, ^*** P < 0.001.