Research Article

Promoting Nrf2/Sirt3-Dependent Mitophagy Suppresses Apoptosis in Nucleus Pulposus Cells and Protects against Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

Figure 6

t-BHQ alleviates the imbalance of mitochondrial dynamics induced by TBHP and promotes mitophagy in a NRF2/SIRT3 pathway-dependent manner. (a, b) Successful knockdown of Sirt3. (c, d) The protein expression of LC3, P62, NRF2, histone H3, SIRT3, and cleaved caspase-3 in NPCs. (e) The promoter of Sirt3 was ChIP-ed with anti-Nrf2 antibody or IgG control. (f) Immunofluorescence double-labeled staining for colocalization of LC3 with TOM20 in NPCs. (g–j) TUNEL, MitoTracker, and MitoSOX staining assays were performed in NPCs. All experiments were performed three times in duplicate, and data are reported as the . ns, , and .
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