Cardiac autophagy is a maladaptive response to hemodynamic stress
J. Clin. Invest. Hongxin Zhu, et al. 117:1782 doi:10.1172/JCI27523 [Go to this article.]

Figure 5
Heterozygous disruption of beclin 1 decreases cardiomyocyte autophagy. (A) Autophagy induced by starvation (48 hours), manifested as punctate GFP-LC3 dots, is significantly diminished in beclin 1^+/– hearts. All images were taken from basal septum. Scale bar: 35 μm. (B) Quantification of GFP aggregates per microscopic field (14,479 μm²) in basal septum demonstrates significantly less autophagic activity in beclin 1^+/– hearts in response to starvation compared with WT. n = 3–5 microscopic fields in each of 3 mice. (C) Induction of autophagy by pressure overload (sTAB, 48 hours) is significantly diminished in beclin 1^+/– hearts compared with WT. All images are taken from basal septum. Scale bar: 35 μm. (D) Quantification of GFP aggregates per microscopic field (14,479 μm², basal septum) demonstrated significantly less autophagic activity in beclin 1^+/– hearts exposed to hemodynamic stress. n = 3–5 microscopic fields in each of 3 mice. *P < 0.05 versus α-MHC–GFP–LC3 mice.