Effects of reducing the transcription of LC3B, beclin-1 and DRAM on the levels of M30 in cytotrophoblasts under hypoxia.

<p>To study the relationship between autophagy and apoptosis in cytotrophoblasts under hypoxia, the cells were transfected with LC3B, beclin-1 and DRAM-specific siRNA, and the levels of M30 were measured after 48 hours of incubation at 2% oxygen. (a, d, e) Representative immunoblots for LC3B-II, beclin-1, and DRAM from cytotrophoblasts transfected with or without specific siRNA are shown. β-actin was used to normalize for loading variability. (b, e, h) Compared with the control groups, cytotrophoblasts transfected with specific siRNAs had a 40–45% reduction in the levels of corresponding protein. (c, f, i) Compared with the control groups, cytotrophoblasts transfected with LC3B, beclin-1 or DRAM siRNA had higher levels of M30. Horizontal bars represent the median values. <i>P</i> values were based on the Mann-Whitney <i>U</i>-test. For each siRNA study, 10 individual experiments were performed.