(A, left panel) Representative micrographs of lung explant tissue cultured with and without the AMPK inhibitor BML-275 (10 mM) for 72 hours (D3). In the graph, the number of terminal end buds on D3 are expressed as a percentage of the vehicle control. Results represent the mean ± SEM from 3 separate experiments. *P < 0.05 versus vehicle control, by Student’s t test). (B) Representative immunoblots of p-AMPKβ (Ser108), AMPKβ, ATG5–12, and LC3B proteins in lysates of lung explants treated with vehicle or BML-275 for 48 hours. Graphs show densitometric analysis of p-AMPKβ (Ser108), ATG5–12, and LC3B-II proteins in lysates of lung explants. ACTB was used as a protein loading control. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 3 independent experiments). *P < 0.05 versus 48-hour vehicle control, by 1-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test.