Skip to main content
. 2021 Jul 20;12:4404. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24601-y

Fig. 1. Autophagy is activated in fibrotic conditions.

Fig. 1

a–d SSc skin. a–d Representative immunofluorescence staining of BECLIN1 (a; n = 7 healthy individuals and n = 8 SSc patients), ATG7 (b; n = 7 healthy group and n = 9 for SSc group) or p62 (c; n = 6 patients per group) as markers of autophagy (all green) in combination with DAPI (blue) and the fibroblast marker P4Hβ or the myofibroblast marker αSMA (all red) with respective quantifications (d) and Voronoi mesh-based tessellated images. Horizontal scale bars, 50 µm. e mRNA levels of BECLIN1 and ATG7 (both with n = 6 patients for healthy and n = 5 for SSc). f mRNA (n = 7 biological replicates for healthy and n = 6 for SSc) and protein (n = 7 biological replicates per group) levels of p62 in cultured human skin fibroblasts. g Ratio of LC3 II to LC3 I in SSc fibroblasts and controls with representative western blots and quantification (n = 7 biological replicates per group). h–i SSc skin. h Co-staining of LC3B (green) and LAMP2 (red) in combination with DAPI (blue) and the fibroblast marker P4Hβ (gray) with representative confocal images and quantifications (n = 5 biological replicates per group). i Co-staining of p62 (green) and LAMP2 (red) in Combination with DAPI (blue) and the fibroblast marker P4Hβ (gray) (n = 5 biological replicates per group): Representative confocal images and quantifications. Horizontal scale bars, 5 µm. All data are presented as median ± IQR. p-values were determined by two-sided Mann–Whitney test and are indicated in the figure. See source data for more detailed information. Int.: intensity, fluo.: fluorescence., SSc: systemic sclerosis, P4Hβ: prolyl 4-hydroxylase. Western blot samples in panel g were run on the same gel. Images were cropped at the lines only for the purpose of this figure.