Figure 3.

Irisin activates Akt pathway to protect against apoptosis during first trimester oxidative stress. (A) The gene expression of pro-apoptotic BAX decreased in presence of Irisin however the gene expression of anti-apoptotic BCL2A1 did not change with Irisin treatment (n = 3). (B) Protein expression for the BCL2: BAX ratio were significantly increased with Irisin treatment during H/R (n = 3). (C) cPARP was significantly reduced in the first trimester placenta treated with Irisin during H/R (n = 3). (D) Treatment of 50 nm of Irisin led to a significant increase in the ratio for phosphorylated Akt: total Akt protein levels in the first trimester placenta during H/R (n = 3). (Relative protein expression was determined by normalization to β-actin, followed by a one-way analysis of variance and subsequent Tukey’s post hoc test to analyze differences between cohort; * p < 0.05. Bar plots are presented as mean ± SEM. H/R, Hypoxia/Re-oxygenation, PARP, Poly (ADP) Polymerase; cPARP, cleaved PARP; tPARP, total PARP).