Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 23 pp 23684—23697
Hypoxia induces pulmonary artery smooth muscle dysfunction through mitochondrial fragmentation-mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress
Figure 5. Inhibition of ER stress showed little effects on mitochondrial morphology but improved cell function in PASMCs under hypoxia. (A) PBA and TUDCA decreased CHOP expression in PASMCs under both normoxia and hypoxia. Twenty micrograms of protein was loaded in each lane. (B) PBA and TUDCA improved PASMC function as evidenced by increased PE/SNP-induced MLC phosphorylation in PASMCs under hypoxia. Twenty micrograms of protein was loaded in each lane. (C, D) PBA and TUDCA showed little effects on mitochondrial morphology (C) and mitochondrial ROS (D) in PASMCs under hypoxia. Scale bar, 20 μm in C and 100 μm in D. *, p < 0.05, **, p < 0.01. n = 8.