Figure 5.

Hemin decreases the biogenesis of mitochondria and increases mitophagy in COPD fibroblasts. Pulmonary fibroblasts derived from COPD patients (n = 14) and smoker controls (S‐C, n = 13) were treated chronically with either hemin (10 µM) alone or in the presence of inhibitors of heme oxygenase activity: ZnPPIX (1 µM) or QC‐15 (15 µM). (a) Mitochondria mass detection was performed by using acridine orange 10‐nonyl bromide staining. Cells were analyzed with flow cytometry. (b, c) Quantitative transcriptional expression of gene involved in biogenesis (NRF‐1 and PGC1α) by real‐time qPCR in pulmonary fibroblasts. (d, e) Expression of proteins involved in mitophagy (PARKIN and PINK‐1) by western blot. Data are presented as mean ± SEM in the whole Figure. *p < 0.05, passage 7 (senescent stage vs. passage 3 (nonsenescent stage), ^† p < 0.05 cells treated with hemin vs. cells treated with DMSO, ^§ p < 0.05 COPD vs. S‐C