Figure 3.

Detection of mtDNA mutant copies of spleen and cerebral cortex tissues in mice 15 min, 24, and 48 h after X-ray irradiation. (A) Electrophoresis of cleavage products obtained by Surveyor nuclease digestion of heteroduplexes of mtDNA PCR amplicons from spleen and cerebral cortex tissues. (B) Percentage of Surveyor nuclease cleaved heteroduplexes of PCR amplicons of mtDNA (ND3 gene, 534 bp). I—mice without MEL administration; II—MEL administration before irradiation; III—MEL administration after irradiation. The data are presented as mean ± SEM of 5–6 independent experiments. Statistical significance was set at * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.