Fig. 2: The regulation of TERT expression via the phosphorylation of AMPK and the PGC1-α pathway by metformin (Met).

a VSMCs were pretreated with OA (200 μM/24 hr) and then incubated with Met (2 mM/1 h). Protein expression levels were analyzed by Western blotting. b VSMCs were subjected to immunoprecipitation (IP) using a PGC-1α antibody and then immunoblotted with antibodies recognizing p-Ser (571) and TERT. Total PGC-1α levels in whole-cell lysates were estimated by Western blotting. c Western blot analysis of TERT and p-AMPK (Ser485) expression in OA-pretreated VSMCs cotreated with Met, Compound C (CC, 10 μM/1 h) or SR-18292 (SR, 10 μM/24 h). d ChIP‒qPCR analysis of TERT with the PGC-1α antibody in OA and Met-treated VSMCs. Representative results are shown, and the values are the means ± SEs of three independent experiments.