Figure 5
AICAR treatment suppresses CFTR and induces artificial hyperpolarization by increasing the AMPK activity. (A) Western blot analysis of AMPK activity and CFTR expression in AICAR-treated cells. Quantitative data of optical band densitometry are shown. Means ± SD. **P < 0.05. (B) Immunofluorescence analysis of CFTR expression in cells treated with AICAR for 18 hours. Cell nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Green signals reflect expression of CFTR. Scale bars, 50 µm. (D) Measurement of intracellular chloride concentration in AICAR-treated cells using the chloride-sensitive dye MQAE (blue). BF = bright field. Scale bars, 50 µm. Relative MQAE fluorescence intensities were quantified (bottom). All data are expressed as means ± SD. **P < 0.05. (D) Membrane potential of AICAR-treated cells was detected using DiBAC4(3) (green). BF = bright field. Scale bars, 50 µm. Relative DiBAC4(3) fluorescence intensity changes were quantified (bottom). All data are expressed as means ± SD.
