Fig. 2.

Upregulation of MCU increases mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake in CRC cells. a Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting analyses for mRNA and protein expression levels of MCU in different CRC cell lines (COLO205, LS174T, LoVo, HCT-8, CaCo-2, SW620, DLD-1, and HT-29). b Western blotting analysis to measure MCU protein expression in LS174T cells, treated as indicated. c Confocal microscope images of [Ca²⁺]m using MitoPericam (Green) to label mitochondria in LS174T cells, treated as indicated. Scale bar, 5 µm. d Confocal microscope analysis of mitochondrial [Ca²⁺]m in CRC cells with a panel of treatment in response to 10 µM histamine. Ruthenium 360 (10 µM) was used to inhibit MCU activity. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01. MCU mitochondrial calcium uniporter, CRC colorectal cancer, shCtrl control shRNA, shMCU shRNA against MCU, EV empty vector, [Ca²⁺]_m mitochondrial Ca²⁺ levels, PV-Mito expression vector encoding parvalbumin with mitochondria target sequence, Ca²⁺ calcium