Differential Mitochondrial Adaptation in Primary Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells from a Diabetic Rat Model

Figure 2

(a) Baseline comparisons of AMPK (), pAMPK (), and AMPK specific activity (pAMPK/AMPK), signaling upstream of mitochondria () and resultant NO evolution () (b), and mitochondrial complex differences () (c) in Wistar and GK SMCs, passages 8–10. Signaling protein expression was measured with Western blot, 15–30 μg protein on an SDS-page gel, and data are normalized to β-actin and expressed as mean fold change from Wistar SMCs + SEM. Significance measured by Student’s -test, . NO () is expressed as relative fluorescence units (RFU) normalized to RFU of Hoechst live cell staining for cell number. , as measured by Student’s -test.