Rapamycin or Bafilomycin augmented MDMA-induced autophagy and neurodegeneration.

<p>Cultured cortical neurons were treated with MDMA with/without 100 nM rapamycin (rapa) or 1 nM Bafilomycin A1 (Baf) for 48 h, respectively. After treatment, the cells were performed western blot analysis or double immunofluorescence with anti-LC3B and anti-MAP2 antibodies. (A) Western blot analysis of LC3B expression. β-actin was used as the internal control. Densitometry of LC3B-II/LC3B-I. The data are presented as intensity relative to the control mean value (mean ± S.D.). n = 3, ^#<i>P</i><0.05 vs control, *<i>P</i><0.05 vs MDMA-treated group. (B) Representative double immunofluorescence and merged images using anti-LC3B and anti-MAP2 antibodies. Bar = 30 µm. (C) Quantitation of neurite outgrowth. The total neurite length are shown as mean ± S.D., n = 3 experiments with 200–300 cells per experiment, ^#<i>P</i><0.05 vs. control group; ^*<i>P</i><0.05 vs. MDMA treatment.