Depletion of the Third Complement Component Ameliorates Age-Dependent Oxidative Stress and Positively Modulates Autophagic Activity in Aged Retinas in a Mouse Model

Figure 3

Evaluation of the autophagy markers in the retinas of aged C3-deficient and WT mice. (a) Western blot and densitometry analysis of ubiquitin, LC3B, p62, and β-actin, which served as an internal control. Immunoblot images are representative of three independent experiments yielding similar results. The protein expression level of the ubiquitin and p62 was quantified in comparison to that of β-actin. The LC3B protein level is presented as a LC3B-II/LC3B-I ratio. The results are shown as mean ± SD ( eyes per group). Western blot analysis in the retinas collected from C3-def mice demonstrates strong expression of the ubiquitinated proteins () and higher LC3B-II/I ratio () together with a decrease in p62 level (), compared to that from age-matched control mouse retinas. (b) Immunofluorescence staining of ubiquitin protein in the retinas of the 12-month-old C3-def and WT mice confirms the decreased expression of ubiquitin in RPE cells of WT mice. The scale bar is 10 μm.

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