Research Article
Macroautophagy and Selective Mitophagy Ameliorate Chondrogenic Differentiation Potential in Adipose Stem Cells of Equine Metabolic Syndrome: New Findings in the Field of Progenitor Cells Differentiation
Figure 5
Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and autophagy. The autophagy in investigated ASC was established using transmission and confocal microscopy (a). Both ER and Golgi compartments were grossly expanded in ASCEMS. Moreover, large part of ER become fragmented and disintegrated. Large double-membrane vacuoles, multilamellar autophagic bodies (green outline), preautophagosome structures, and engulfed organelles were characterized for ASCEMS. Moreover, anti-LAMP2 immunofluorescence staining revealed increased lysosome accumulation in those cells. The expression of ER stress-related genes—CHOP (b) and PERK (c)—was increased in ASCEMS in control conditions but during chondrogenic differentiation the amount of its mRNA was decreased in comparison to control group. Transcription of genes involved in the autophagy process including Beclin (d) and LC3 (e) in standard culture was decreased in ASCEMS, but during chondrogenesis it significantly increased. mRNA level for LAMP2 was upregulated in those cells in both standard and chondrogenic cultures (f) despite day 2. Results are expressed as mean ± SD. , , and . Au: autophagosomes, Er: endoplasmic reticulum, Rb: ribosomes, N: nucleus, Ga: Golgi apparatus, Mt: mitochondria.
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