Figure 1.

VitD3 improved Ox-LDL-impaired autophagy in murine macrophages. (A) Immunoblot analysis of MAP1LC3B-II and SQSTM1 protein levels in mBMDMs treated with Ox-LDL (50 μg/ml) for 48 h in the presence or absence of VitD3 (20 nM) for 18 h and/or BafA (200 nM) treatment for 2 h. ACTB/beta-actin (actin, beta) was used as a loading control. (B) Changes in MAP1LC3B-II and SQSTM1 protein levels are demonstrated by densitometric analysis of MAP1LC3B-II:ACTB and SQSTM1:ACTB ratios in bar histograms. (C) Treated mBMDMs were immunostained for MAP1LC3B or SQSTM1. (D) Number of MAP1LC3B and SQSTM1 puncta per cell were counted for 50 cells in each group. Images are representative of three independent experiments. Data are representative and ± standard deviation (SD) from three independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 compared to control or as indicated