Fig. 3: Pharmacological inhibition of autophagy by 3-MA or CQ reduces lipid deposition in TGF-β1-induced tubular cells.

Cells were divided into four groups: medium, TGF-β1 + PBS, TGF-β1 + 3-MA (10 mM) and TGF-β1 + CQ (20 μM). a Western blotting analysis of the expression of LC3, SQSTM1 and GAPDH. GAPDH set as loading control. Schematic representation of band intensity of the indicated proteins. The data are calculated from three independent experiments and are expressed as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05; ***P < 0.001. b Cells were analyzed using Oil Red O staining and BODIPY staining, and one representative image from three independent experiments is shown. Scale bar: 20 μm. Schematic representation of the number and average size of LDs from both Oil Red O staining and BODIPY staining. The data are expressed as the means ± SEM. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; n.s. no significance