Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Transmitochondrial Cybrids Protected from Cellular Damage and Death by Human Retinal Progenitor Cells (hRPCs)

Figure 4

In AMD cybrids, hRPCs decrease the expression of mtDNA replication genes. (a) AMD cybrids cocultured with hRPCs showed significantly reduced expression of mtDNA replication genes. The AMD cybrids with hRPC treatment had lower expression levels of POLG (, ) and TFAM (, ), but not POLRMT (, ) compared to control and untreated AMD cybrids (assigned a value of 1, dotted line). (b) AMD cybrids treated with hRPCs did not show a significant difference in mtDNA copy number compared to control AMD cybrids (copy number relative to , ). Data between the treatment and control groups were analyzed for differences by performing one-sample -tests on the expression fold change values either from the five cybrid lines for each gene () or for mitochondrial DNA copy number (), comparing the values with a hypothetical value of 1.

(a)

(b)