Atractylenolide III Attenuates Muscle Wasting in Chronic Kidney Disease via the Oxidative Stress-Mediated PI3K/AKT/mTOR Pathway

Figure 3

Typical autophagosomes and autolysosomes of gastrocnemius slices under TEM. The skeletal muscle of rats was obtained after 5 weeks of gavage. Autophagosomes and autolysosomes of gastrocnemius were observed by TEM. Representative TEM images showing autophagosome structures (denoted by black triangles) and autolysosome structures (denoted by red triangles) (a). The number of autophagosomes and autolysosomes was significantly higher in the model group than in the sham group. However, after ATL-III treatment, the numbers of both autophagosomes and autolysosomes were decreased (b). Western blotting analysis showed that the LC3-II expression was significantly higher in the model group than in the sham group () but was decreased in the ATL-III-treated group (); the expression of P62 followed an opposite trend (c). The expression of p-PI3K, p-AKT (Ser473), and p-mTOR in muscle lysates of different groups by Western blots. The results showed that the expression levels of these three proteins decreased significantly in CKD rats compared to the sham group but could be restored by ATL-III treatment (d). and .

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