Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 5 pp 7096—7119

Figure 2. Berberine triggers autophagy in peritoneal macrophages. (A) Ultrastructural changes in untreated (control), 3MA only, and berberine-treated with or without 3MA peritoneal macrophages were observed by TEM at 6 h after berberine treatment. Red arrows indicate autophagosomes. Scale bar, 2 μm. (B) Peritoneal macrophages in control, 3MA only, and berberine-treated with or without 3MA groups incubated with acridine orange (50 μM) for 30 min. Scale bar, 50 μm. (C) Peritoneal macrophages stained with an anti-LC3B antibody and DAPI at 6 h after berberine treatment. Scale bar, 25 μm. (D) The expression of LC3 I, LC3 II, and Beclin 1 was analyzed by western blotting after treatment with berberine (100 μmol/L) for different time intervals. Data was analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD post-hoc test (vs. Control group). All values are expressed as mean ± SD (error bars) of three independent experiments. n = 3; ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01 versus control.