Fig. 4: Gentamicin exposure causes mitochondrial–ER dissociation.
From: Cross organelle stress response disruption promotes gentamicin-induced proteotoxicity
Representative micrographs show mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and nuclei stained with MitoTracker Green, ER-Tracker Red, and Hoechst dye (blue), respectively. a At baseline, cells contain elongated mitochondria that co-localize with ER. After 15 min gentamicin exposure, mitochondria appear severely fragmented although ER and mitochondria remain co-localized. After 30 min of gentamicin exposure, fragmented mitochondria dissociate from ER. Bars = 5 µm. Insets contain magnified images highlighting mitochondrial–ER proximity. b Compared with control (left upper panel), GGA alone did not alter baseline mitochondrial morphology (left lower panel), but prevented both mitochondrial fragmentation and dissociation from ER in gentamicin-exposed cells (lower center panel vs. upper center panel). Tunicamycin also caused mitochondrial fragmentation followed by organelle dissociation (right upper panel). In tunicamycin-exposed cells, GGA reduced mitochondrial fragmentation but did not prevent mitochondrial–ER dissociation (right lower panel vs. right upper panel); Bars = 5 µm. c GGA significantly preserved mitochondrial–endoplasmic reticulum co-localization (Pearson’s Coefficient) during 30-min gentamicin exposure; *P < 0.05; n = 108–124 mitochondria.
