Figure 9.

Evidence for reduced TFEB expression and enhanced intrinsic protein aggregation in trophoblast-specific atg7 cKO placentas. (A, B) TFEB staining was performed in placenta-specific atg7 knockout mice (cKO) and control mice (EGFP) (A). TFEB-positive cell rate in the placentas from cKO and EGFP were calculated and statistically analyzed (B). La: labyrinth layer, Sp: spongiotrophoblast layer, De: decidua. Arrows indicated TFEB-positive trophoblasts. (C, D) Protein aggregates in the labyrinth layer (La) and spongiotrophoblast layer (Sp) in the placentas from atg7 cKO and EGFP control mice were identified by ProteoStat staining (C). H&E staining showed the structure of mouse placental tissue. The intensity of ProteoStat signal in the placentas was compared between EGFP control and atg7 cKO as shown in D. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM and analyzed by a Student t-test (n = 4). Bar: 50 µm.