Increased autophagy in endothelial cells following siRNA-mediated caveolin-1 knockdown.

<p>(A) BAEC were transfected with caveolin-1 or control siRNA, some conditions treated with bafilomycin A1 (20 nM, 4 h), and then cell lysates were resolved by SDS-PAGE and analyzed by immunoblot using LC3B antibody; β-actin was used as loading control. (B) BAEC were transfected with caveolin-1 or control siRNA and then stained with the autophagy marker dye Cyto-ID Green 72 h following transfection. As a positive control for autophagy, some samples were treated with rapamycin (10 nM) for 18 h before labeling with Cyto-ID Green. <i>Left panel</i> shows representative microscopic images of autophagic vacuoles in endothelial cells transfected and treated as shown. <i>Right panel</i> shows the results of pooled data derived from the quantification of autophagic vacuoles by flow cytometry. All values are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM). Statistical difference was assessed with unpaired t-test; * indicates p<0.05.