Fig. 4

Effects of PQQ administration on molecular regulation of mitochondrial content in vivo. A mtRNA/nuRNA ratio in retinal samples from animals treated with either vehicle or 20 mg/kg PQQ long-term, calculated using the expression of mt-Co2 and Rsp18 as mitochondrial and nuclear reference gene, respectively. B, C Pgc-1α, Tfam (B) and Ndufb8, Sdhb, Uqcrc2, mt-Co1 and Atp5a1 (C) mRNA levels in whole retinas from animals injected long-term with either vehicle or 20 mg/kg PQQ. Rsp18 was used as housekeeping gene. n = 15 retinas per group. D mtRNA/nuRNA ratio in optic nerve samples from animals treated long-term with either vehicle or 20 mg/kg PQQ, calculated using the same genes described in A as mitochondrial and nuclear reference genes. E, F Pgc-1α, Tfam (E) and Ndufb8, Sdhb, Uqcrc2, mt-Co1 and Atp5a1 (F) mRNA levels in optic nerves from animals treated long-term with either vehicle or 20 mg/kg PQQ. Rsp18 was used as housekeeping gene. n = 8 optic nerves per group. G, H Representative blots and densitometric analysis of NDUFB8, SDHB, UQCRC2, mt-CO1 and ATP5a protein levels in retinas (G) and optic nerves (H) from vehicle and PQQ treated animals. Protein levels were expressed as the optical density (OD) of the target normalized for the respective OD of β-actin used as loading control. n = 8 samples per group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 versus vehicle