Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 6 pp 1832—1849

Figure 7. GR inhibitor, RU486, rescues the expression of autophagy-related proteins and nuclear receptor RORα expression, yet not GSK3α and GSK-3β in light exposure cells. (A–D) Protein content of LC3B, Beclin, ATG4c, ATG7, SIRT1, phospho-AMPK, RORα, GR and phospho-GR. GR inhibitor RU486 completely rectified light-induced up-regulation of GR, phospho-GR, RORα and autophagy-related proteins, including LC3B, Beclin, ATG4c, ATG7, SIRT1 and phospho-AMPK, in HT-22 cells. Values are means ± SEM, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, compared with Dark group, ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, compared with Light group (n = 4); (E–G) Immunofluorescence of GR, showing that RU486 was able to restore light-induced GR activation and GR nuclear translocation. The nuclei were stained with Hoechst (blue) and GR was stained with GR antibody (red). Scale bars, 75 μm; (H–I) Protein content of total and phospho-GSK-3α/β (Ser21/9). Light-induced increase in total GSK-3α/β and decrease in phospho-GSK-3α/β were not rescued by RU486. Values are means ± SEM, *p < 0.05, compared with Dark group (n = 4).