Fig. 1

Gastrin upregulates autophagy markers in gastric adenocarcinoma cells. a and b AGS-Gr and MKN45 cells treated with gastrin (10 nM) for 2–16 h. The expression of MAP1LC3B-I/II and SQSTM1 is shown by immunoblotting. The images represent one of two independent experiments (c and d) Cells treated with gastrin for 4 h. The expression of ATG5 is shown by immunoblotting. e and f AGS-Gr and MKN45 cells treated with BafA1 (100 nM) and gastrin for 8 h and 4 h, respectively. The expression of MAP1LC3B-II and SQSTM1 is shown by immunoblotting. The images represent one of three independent experiments. Graphs represents three independent experiments, mean +/− SEM (P- values: ** ≤ 0.02 and * ≤ 0.05) (g) AGS-Gr cells treated with BafA1 and gastrin for 4 h. Cells were stained for MAP1LC3B (Alexa 488) and SQSTM1 (Alexa 647). The images were processed using IMAGE J software. 300 cells were manually counted for SQSTM1 puncatated structures in the cytosol. U.S. = untreated cells. The images represent one of three independent experiments. Graphs represent three independent experiments; mean +/− SEM (P- value: *** ≤ 0.02)