Antimycin A-Induced Mitochondrial Damage Causes Human RPE Cell Death despite Activation of Autophagy

Figure 4

Aa caused significant mitochondrial damage. TEM analysis of the cells revealed mitochondria to be swollen, with clear damage to their cristae and a reduction in the mitochondrial matrix density (a, b, e) (scale bar: 1 μm). At 6 hours, there was no difference in the total number of mitochondria per cell (c), but 24 hours after Aa treatment, the numbers of mitochondria were reduced, while mitochondrial damage persisted (d). Mitochondria in hRPE cells showed similar damage with no reduction in their number after 6 hours of Aa treatment (e, f). Quantitative results are a combination of three (a, b) or two (e) independent experiments, where TEM images of at least 5 separate cells per group were evaluated by two independent researchers. Results are presented as . Representative TEM images are shown. ns: not statistically significant; , , , and , Mann-Whitney test.

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