Research Paper Volume 6, Issue 4 pp 296—310

Mitochondria hyperfusion and elevated autophagic activity are key mechanisms for cellular bioenergetic preservation in centenarians

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Figure 4. Hyperfused mitochondria are present in DFs from LLI. IVM analysis of mitochondrial network. (A-C) representative pictures of DFs from Young, Old and LLI, respectively, after staining with anti-mitochondrion (red) and counterstaining with Hoechst (blue). (D-F) Magnification of boxed areas indicated in (A-C), respectively. It is possible to appreciate that mitochondria appear elongated in DFs from LLI (F). (G) Morphometric analysis results. In ordinate the percentage of cells with elongated mitochondria. Data are reported as mean value ± SD of the results obtained in three independent experiments. *p<0.01 vs Young; °p<0.01 vs Old. (H) Semi-quantitative flow cytometric analysis of autophagy on DFs at basal conditions (white columns) or after aminoacid starvation (cultured in HBSS for 4 hours, black columns). In ordinate the median fluorescence intensity associated to autophagy is reported. Data are reported as mean ± SD of three independent experiments. *p<0.01 vs Young; °p<0.01 vs Old.