Trehalose Augments Neuron Survival and Improves Recovery from Spinal Cord Injury via mTOR-Independent Activation of Autophagy

Figure 5

Effect of chloroquine (CQ) on trehalose’s boost of autophagy flux in SCI rats. (a, c) Western blot analysis of the protein levels of Beclin1 and LC3II in the three different rat groups (SCI, SCI+TRE, and SCI+TRE+CQ) on day 3. (b, d) Quantitative analysis of the levels of Beclin1 and LC3II. (e, g) Western blot analysis of the protein levels of CTSD, cleaved CTSD, and p62 in the three different rat groups on day 3. (f, h) Quantitative analysis of the levels of CTSD, p-CTSD, and p62. (i) Immunostaining of p62 in neurons of the SCI, SCI+TRE, and SCI+TRE+CQ groups on day 3; scale bar: 40 μm. (j) Quantitative analysis of p62 density in each group. . NS stands for nonsignificance. ^## for comparisons between SCI rats, ^$$ for comparisons between the SCI+CQ rats, and ^& and ^&& for comparisons between the SCI+TRE rats.

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