Fig. 5

AMPK activators upregulated SOCS3 by enhancing autophagy to suppress microRNA-30a-5p. a–d BV-2 cells were treated with resveratrol (50 μM), AICAR (300 μM) or metformin (2.5 mM) for 12 h. Cell extracts were collected, and the protein levels of LC3-II (b), DICER (c), AGO1 and AGO2 (d) were evaluated by western blotting (n = 3). BV-2 cells were transfected with 100 pmol Atg5 siRNA or negative control (NC) siRNA for 36 h and then subjected to metformin (2.5 mM) for 12 h. The efficiency of Atg5 knockdown was assessed by immunoblot assay (k) (n = 3). The protein levels of LC3-II, DICER, AGO1, AGO2 and SOCS3 were evaluated by western blot (e–i) (n = 3). j The level of miRNA-30a-5p was evaluated by real-time PCR after metformin administration (n = 3). Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 vs. the control group; ^#p < .05, ^##p < .01 vs. the metformin-treated group