Fig. 3

Antioxidant treatment protects against reduced-cell-spreading-associated mtDNA common deletion in human dermal fibroblasts. a and b Fibroblasts were treated with vehicle (CTRL, DMSO) or N-acetylcysteine (NAC, 10 mM) immediately after Lat-A treatment for three days. Intracellular ROS levels were measured by Redox Sensor Red fluorescence and quantified by ImageJ (see Methods for details). Red fluorescence indicates ROS and blue fluorescence delineates nuclei. Mean ± SEM. N = 4, *p < 0.05 vs CTRL. ** p < 0.05 vs Lat-A without NAC. c Anti-oxidant treatment protects against elevated mtDNA common deletion by oxidative exposure in a dose-dependent manner. Fibroblasts were treated with vehicle (CTRL, DMSO) or N-acetylcysteine (NAC, 2–20 mM) immediately after Lat-A treatment for three days. mtDNA common deletion was determined by real-time QPCR (see Methods for details). Mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05 vs CTRL. ** p < 0.05 vs Lat-A without NAC. d Time-course of anti-oxidant protection against mtDNA common deletion by oxidative exposure. Fibroblasts were treated with vehicle (CTRL, DMSO) or N-acetylcysteine (NAC, 10 mM) immediately after Lat-A treatment for indicated times. mtDNA common deletion was determined by real-time QPCR (see Methods for details). Mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05 vs Lat-A without NAC. ** p < 0.05 vs without Lat-A and NAC