Research Paper Volume 9, Issue 2 pp 315—339

Figure 1. Effect of SkQ1 treatment on appearance, kyphosis and alopecia in mtDNA mutator mice. (A) Pictures of mtDNA mutator mice: a non-treated (Mut) mouse and an SkQ1-treated (Mut+SkQ1) littermate female mouse, 248 and 256 days of age respectively. (B) Scores of kyphosis manifestation (arbitrary units) in mtDNA mutator mice. Each bar represents the mean ± S.E. score from mice of both genders: 21 Mut (10 females + 11 males) and 22 Mut+SkQ1 (13 f + 11 m) in ages 213-268 days; 11 Mut (5 f + 6 m) and 13 Mut+SkQ1 (6 f + 7 m) in ages 268–290 days; in ages 290–356 days, the number of mice decreased with age according to survival; the lowest number of mice in a group was 4 (2 f + 2 m). Day number under each bar indicates the center day of 11 days of mouse age. (C) X-ray picture of a non-treated mouse and an SkQ1-treated littermate female mtDNA mutator mouse (290 ± 4 days old). White circle arc indicates curvature angle measurements. Note that the angle is calculated from the extended line of the lower spine. (D) Angle of thoracic-lumbar curvature determined as in C. Each bar represents the mean ± S.E. from 10–11 mice of both genders in each group; Mut, 287 ± 7 days old, 5 f + 6 m; Mut + SkQ1, 284 ± 6 days old, 6 f + 5 m. (E) Bone minerality of spine cord area from scapula to lumbar. Each bar represents the mean ± S.E. from 6–8 female mice in each group. Mut, 290 ± 11 days; Mut + SkQ1, 287 ± 9 days. (F) Scores of alopecia manifestation in mtDNA mutator mice. The mice are the same as those in (B). * in B-F indicates a statistically significant difference between non-treated and SkQ1-treated mtDNA mutator mice (p < 0.05).