Research Paper Volume 4, Issue 9 pp 636—647

Down regulation of miR-124 in both Werner syndrome DNA helicase mutant mice and mutant Caenorhabditis elegans wrn-1 reveals the importance of this microRNA in accelerated aging

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Figure 4.

The aging marker lipofuscin is increased in mutant C. elegans strains. Representative photographs of wild type (N2), wrn-1(gk99), mir-124(n4255), and wrn-1;mir-124 double mutant worms at three days into adulthood. Panels on the right represent the lipofuscin autofluorescence alone. All pictures were taken at the same exposure time. Magnification is 10 X. The histogram at the bottom represents the average intensity of lipofuscin autofluorescence in the different C. elegans strains. Ten to fifteen three-days old (three days into adulthood) worms of each strain were photographed and the fluorescence intensity was quantified using Adobe Photoshop. The fold increase in fluorescence intensity compared to wild type animals is indicated. (Unpaired Student's t-test; *P = 0.00002 for wrn-1(gk99) vs. wild type; **P = 0.00222 for mir-124(n4255) vs. wild type; and ***P = 0.00078 for wrn-1;mir-124 vs. wild type).