Fig. 3From: Lipopolysaccharide induces neuroinflammation in microglia by activating the MTOR pathway and downregulating Vps34 to inhibit autophagosome formationLPS reduces the expression of Vps34, resulting in the inhibition of omegasome formation and phagophore formation in N9 microglial cells. a The protein levels of Vps34 and Beclin1 were detected by western blotting in LPS-treated N9 microglial cells and quantified (b, c). d The expression of LC3 and SQSTM1 were detected by western blotting in Vps34 overexpressing N9 microglial cells after treatment with 1 μg/mL LPS for 6 h, 12 h, and 24 h, and quantified (e, f). g N9 microglial cells were transfected with GFP-DFCP1 and RFP-WIPI2 plasmids for 24 h and then treated with or without 1 μg/mL LPS for 12 h, and visualized by confocal microscopy. Immunofluorescence images show the colocalization of DFCP1 (green) with WIPI2 (red) in the CTRL and LPS-treated cells. The boxed areas are enlarged in the right panels. Scale bar: 10 μm. h Pearson’s correlation coefficient for colocalization of DFCP1 with WIPI2 was calculated by Image J. Data are presented as mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. i Representative TEM images of N9 microglial cells cotreated with 100 nM rapamycin and 1 μg/mL LPS for 12 h. Arrows indicate phagophores (ph) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Scale bar: 500 nm (white), 1 μm (black). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 vs control; $p < 0.05, $$p < 0.01 vs wild type; #p < 0.05, ## p < 0.01 vs vectorBack to article page