Fig. 5

Galectin-9 regulates autophagy through acting as a ligand for Tim-3. a BALB/c male mice (N = 5 per group) were sacrificed after 6 h or 12 h of chronic stress. Cellular lysates were extracted from mouse spleens. Expression of galectin-9 was determined by Western blot. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 compared with indicated groups. b After 12 h of stress, mouse spleens were harvested and fixed in 4% buffered formalin. IHC was performed on adjacent sections with anti-galectin-9 Ab and hematoxylin was used as a counterstain (100 ×). Mice were pretreated with α-lactose. After 12 h chronic stress, the blood and spleens of mice were harvested. c Cellular lysates were extracted from mouse spleens. Level of autophagy was determined by Western blot. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 compared with indicated groups. The circulating levels of IFN-γ (d), IL-17 (e), IL-10 (f), and IL-4 (g) cytokines were examined by ELISA. N = 5 per group. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 compared with indicated groups. h Total splenocytes were enumerated with a hemocytometer