Research Paper Volume 9, Issue 2 pp 315—339

Improved health-span and lifespan in mtDNA mutator mice treated with the mitochondrially targeted antioxidant SkQ1

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Figure 8. Effect of SkQ1 treatment on thermogenesis and brown adipose tissue of mtDNA mutator mice. (A) Scoring of manifestations of hypothermia (based on body temperature, shivering and posture position) in SkQ1-treated and non-treated mtDNA mutator mice. Gender and number of mice in each group are as in 1B. (B) Wet weight of interscapular brown adipose tissue (BAT). (C) Western blots analyses of VDAC and UCP1 in BAT (tissue homogenate protein, 10 µg per lane). (D) Relative concentration of mitochondrial proteins. Western blots as in C were quantified. The mean level of UCP1 and VDAC in control mice was set to 100% and the levels of protein in BAT from SkQ1-treated mice expressed relative to this. (E) Total protein content per BAT depot. (F) Total content of UCP1 and VDAC per mouse. Content of each protein per µg homogenate protein estimated from Western blot analysis (in E) was multiplied with the total protein content of BAT (in C) from the same mouse. The values in B and D - F represent the means ± SE of 4-5 independent tissue preparations in each group, analyzed singly or in duplicate. * indicates statistical significance between SkQ1-treated and non-treated mice (p < 0.05).