Fig. 6

Mechanical stretching upregulates OXPHOS in MscL-G22S-expressing SCs. The effects of MscL-G22S activation by mechanical stretching on OXPHOS of SCs were evaluated by analysis of the levels of NAD⁺ (A), NAD⁺ ratio to NADH (B), mtDNA copy number (C), expression of mitochondrial electron transfer chain components, including mt-ND2, SDHA, mt-Cytb, mt-CO1 and mt-Atp8 (D for real-time PCR, E and F for western blot). When compared to the controlled SCs, there were significantly higher levels of NAD⁺, NAD⁺ ratio to NADH, and upregulated mitochondrial electron transfer chain components in MscL-G22S-activated SCs. G-H Both the mRNA and protein expression of TFAM were significantly upregulated in MscL-G22S-activated SCs. I Immunostaining of mitochondrial electron transfer chain proteins and TFAM in SCs was shown. The quantitative data of immunofluorescence is shown in Fig. S9. Scale bars: 20 μm. The data shown were representative of at least three independent experiments. NC, negative control; MscL, MscL-G22S-expressing SCs; NC-stretch, negative control with mechanical stretching; MscL-stretch, MscL-G22S-expressing SCs with mechanical stretching. ns, not significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001