Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
Volume 21, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms21061976
Keywords
ageing; oxidative stress; mitochondrial damage; age-related macular disease; mitophagy; autolysosomal fusion; protein aggregates
Funding
- European Union [722717]
- Academy of Finland [296840]
- Kuopio University Hospital VTR grant [5503743]
- Sigrid Juselius Foundation
- Paivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation
- University of Eastern Finland
- Finnish Cultural Foundation
- Finnish Eye Foundation
- Academy of Finland (AKA) [296840, 296840] Funding Source: Academy of Finland (AKA)
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Increased oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage are observed in protein aggregation diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We have recently reported elevated levels of oxidative stress markers, damaged mitochondria, accumulating lysosomal lipofuscin and extracellular drusen-like structures in the retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) of the dry AMD-resembling NFE2L2/PGC1 alpha double knockout (dKO) mouse model. Here, we provide evidence of a disturbance in the autolysosomal machinery handling mitochondrial clearance in the RPE cells of one-year-old NFE2L2/PGC1 alpha-deficient mice. Confocal immunohistochemical analysis revealed an upregulation of autophagosome marker microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3B (LC3B) as well as numerous mitophagy markers, such as PTE-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) and E3 ubiquitin ligase (PARKIN) together with damaged mitochondria. However, we detected no evidence of increased autolysosome formation in transmission electron micrographs or of colocalization of lysosomal marker LAMP2 (lysosome-associated membrane protein 2) and the mitochondrial marker ATP synthase beta in confocal micrographs. Interestingly, we observed an upregulation of late autolysosomal fusion Ras-related protein (Rab7) in the perinuclear space of RPE cells together with autofluorescence aggregates. Our results reveal that there is at least a relative decrease of mitophagy in the RPE cells of NFE2L2/PGC1 alpha dKO mice. This further supports the hypothesis that mitophagy is a putative therapy target in AMD-like pathology.
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