Figure 5.

Protein analysis of Nebl^ex3-knockout (KO) mouse hearts. A: Western blots showing relative expression of proteins in Nebl^+/+ and Nebl^ex3-/ex3- mouse hearts (n = 3). GAPDH was used as a reference protein for each protein gel. Graphs on the right indicate rations of proteins/reference. Nebl^+/+ sedentary group was used as an expression reference for other groups. *P  < 0.05, significant difference between groups. AU, arbitrary units. B: immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy of mouse hearts after exercise. In Nebl^+/+ mice, arrows indicate normal expression of nebulette (NEBL; green) and desmin (DES; red) localized at the Z-disks. Yellow spots indicate overlapped NEBL and DES in merged images. Fourth column: focuses on the details of the outlined squares. In Nebl^ex3-/ex3- hearts, NEBL is scarcely expressed in sarcomeres, while DES is disorganized and diffusely expressed in the sarcoplasm (asterisks). Bar = 10 μm.