Figure 6.

Effects of intragland Shh gene delivery on autophagy activity and AMPK-ULK1 pathway in irradiated parotids. (A-B) In parotids collected 5 weeks after IR, as indicated by Western blot analyses, IR significantly decreased the level of the positive autophagy marker LC3B and increased the level of the negative autophagy marker P62, whereas Ad-Shh but not Ad-GFP delivery significantly inhibited effects of IR on the expression of these two autophagy markers (n = 3). (C) In parotids 5 weeks after IR, the mRNA expression of AMPK and ULK1, two autophagy activators regulated by Hh signaling, was concurrently decreased by IR and resorted by Shh but not GFP gene delivery as indicated by qRT-PCR (n = 3).