Figure 7.

Effect of cadmium and/or topiramate on autophagy markers in testes of rats. The co-treatment with topiramate activated testicular autophagy that was inhibited by cadmium administration. This was manifested by the lowered accumulation of the negative autophagy marker p62 SQSTM1 [H (3, 20) = 25.42, p < 0.0001] (A) and upregulated protein expression of the positive autophagy marker Beclin 1 [H (3, 20) = 8.80, p = 0.0006] (B). Results are demonstrated as the mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM) for six rats in each experimental group. ** p < 0.01, **** p < 0.0001 signifies statistical significance versus the control group; ^# p < 0.05, ^## p < 0.01 signifies statistical significance versus cadmium chloride-treated group. p62 SQSTM1, sequestome 1 protein 62. TPM, topiramate; Cd, cadmium chloride.