Figure 1.
UCP-2 protein expression in control and diabetic animals with and without scramble or UCP-2 siRNA administration.
A representative blot is displayed on the top.
Figure 2.
Mitochondria oxygen consumption measurements A) during state 4 (filled bars) and state 3 (patterned bars) in control and diabetic animals with and without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
B) Respiratory control ratio (state 3/state 4 respiration) in control and diabetic animals with and without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
Table 1.
Blood glucose and body weight in control and diabetic animals with and without siRNA administration.
Figure 3.
Mitochondria uncoupling measured as glutamate-stimulated O2 consumption during inhibition of the ATP-synthase with oligomycin during baseline (filled bars) and after inhibition of UCP-2 with GDP (patterned bars) in control and diabetic animals with and without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
* denotes p<0.05 vs. baseline within the group.
Figure 4.
Mitochondria uncoupling measured as glutamate-stimulated O2 consumption during inhibition of the ATP-synthase with oligomycin during baseline (filled bars) and after inhibition of ANT with ADP (patterned bars) in control and diabetic animals with and without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
* denotes p<0.05 vs. baseline within the group.
Figure 5.
Mitochondria uncoupling measured as glutamate-stimulated O2 consumption during inhibition of the ATP-synthase with oligomycin during baseline (filled bars) and after inhibition of ANT with CAT (patterned bars) in control and diabetic animals with and without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
* denotes p<0.05 vs. baseline within the group.
Figure 6.
Mitochondria membrane potential measured as TMRM-uptake before and after GDP, CAT or the combination of CAT and GDP during baseline and inhibition of the ATP-synthase in control and diabetic animals with and without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
* denotes p<0.05 vs. no incubation within the group.
Figure 7.
Mitochondria ATP-production during no incubation and after oligomycin, FCCP or CAT in control and diabetic animals without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
* denotes p<0.05 vs. no incubation within the group.
Figure 8.
Whole-body oxidative stress levels measured as circulating MDA levels in control and diabetic animals with and without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
Figure 9.
Kidney tissue oxidative stress levels measured as TBARS in control and diabetic animals with and without scrambled or UCP-2 siRNA.
Figure 10.
Summary of proposed mechanisms.
Pathways highlighted in blue denote uncoupling via UCP-2; pathways highlighted in red denote uncoupling via ANT. ANT – adenosine nucleotide transporter, CAT – carboxyatractylate, ETC – electron transport chain, FA− – charged fatty acid, FA-H – uncharged fatty acid, GDP – guanosine diphosphate, UCP-2 – uncoupling protein 2.
Table 2.
Sequence of siRNA towards UCP-2 and scrambled siRNA.