Fig. 4

PBA treatment mitigates the apoE4 (272–299)-induced mitochondrial impairment in N2a cells. N2a cells were transiently transfected with apoE4 (Δ272–299), and were treated with, or without, 1 mM PBA for another 18 h. a The mitochondria of N2a cells were stained with mitotracker, and were examined by a laser confocal microscope. The scale bar is 10 µm. b The lengths of mitochondria were measured using the ImageJ, n = 20–30 mitochondria per group. c The areas of mitochondria were measured using the ImageJ, n = 20–30 cells per group. d The MMP was analyzed by the JC-1. e The levels of ATP were analyzed by chemiluminescence. f The levels of ROS were analyzed by DCFH-DA. g, h Western blot analysis of the relative levels of MFF, MFN2, MFN1 and OPA1 expression and DRP1 phosphorylation in the difference groups of N2a cells. ^ΔΔP < 0.01 versus the control N2a cells; **P < 0.01,*P < 0.05, versus the vector-transfected N2a cells; ^##P < 0.01, ^#P < 0.05, versus the apoE4 (Δ272–299) expressed N2a cells. Data are representative images or expressed as the mean ± SEM of each group (n = 3) from three separate experiments. The significant differences were determined by ANOVA and post hoc Fisher’s least significant difference