Figure 4. a–c.

Curcumin inhibited the autophagy process by regulating autophagy-related gene expression. (a) Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis of the mRNA expression of ATG5, LC-3II, beclin-1, and bcl-2 in each group. Data are presented as mean±SEM. **p<0.01, *p<0.05. n=8 for each group. (b) Western blot analysis of the protein levels of ATG5, LC-3II, beclin-1, and bcl-2 in each group. β-Actin was used as the control. (c) Autophagosome detection under transmission electron microscopy