Aging Induced p53/p21 in Genioglossus Muscle Stem Cells and Enhanced Upper Airway Injury

Figure 4

p53/p21 involved in hypoxia response in GG MuSCs. (a) The protein levels of p53 and p21 significantly increased under hypoxia, particularly in MuSCs derived from older age GG. (b) The mRNA levels of p53 and p21 also obviously grew up under hypoxia. The levels were higher in old GG MuSCs than in young. (c) The mRNA levels of p16 and BAX increased, while BCL-2 increased under hypoxia, especially in aging GG MuSCs. Statistical significance is marked as follows: represents the difference between normoxia and 1-month-old vs. 2-month-old vs. 6-month-old vs. 12-month-old; , , and . @ represents the difference between hypoxia and 1-month-old vs. 2-month-old vs. 6-month-old vs. 12-month-old; ^@, ^@@, and ^@@@. # represents difference between same age and normoxia vs. hypoxia; ^#, ^##, and ^###.

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