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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Death Differ. 2010 Jul 30;18(2):235–247. doi: 10.1038/cdd.2010.89

Figure 3. Mitochondrial morphology and fusion rate in wild type, Bax−/− and Bax−/− Bak−/− HCT116 cells.

Figure 3

(A) Western blot analysis of Bak and Bax protein levels in WT, Bax−/−, Bak−/− and Bax−/−Bak−/− HCT116 cells. (B) Representative images of cytochrome c immunostained mitochondria in WT, Bax−/−, Bak−/− and Bax−/− Bak−/− HCT116 cells. Scale bar represents 5 µm. (C) Quantification of mitochondrial morphology visualized using anti-cytochrome c antibody in WT, Bax−/−, Bak−/− and Bax−/−Bak−/− HCT116 cells. 100 cells total per cell type were quantified in a blinded manner, and the average number of cells with an elongated mitochondrial morphology was plotted ± SD. The difference between cell lines was significant via the student’s t-test. (D) Bax−/−Bak−/− HCT116 cells have slower rates of mitochondrial fusion. Mitochondrial fusion rates were analyzed in WT, Bax−/−, Bak−/− and Bax−/−Bak−/− HCT116 cells. The average ± SEM (n >20) fluorescence remaining over time was plotted. The data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA (Cell line variation F=13.73, p<0.001) followed by the Bonferroni posttest, and p-values are noted on the figure. These data are representative of at least two independent experiments.