Journal: International Journal of Molecular Medicine

Article Title: ZEB1 maintains mitochondrial fission and macrophage efferocytosis by restraining MFN2, thereby limiting inflammation and improving tendon-bone healing

doi: 10.3892/ijmm.2026.5805

Figure Lengend Snippet: ZEB1 affects mitochondrial fission by regulating MFN2. (A) Confocal microscopy results of mitochondrial morphology in macrophages. Mitochondria were labeled with Mito-Tracker Red fluorescent probe (scale bar, 10 µ m; lower panels, ×200 magnification). Western blotting analysis of (B) MFN2 and (C) DRP1 protein expression in macrophages after ZEB1 knockdown. Quantitative density analysis data are presented as mean ± standard deviation (n=3 independent experiments). (D) Immunofluorescence colocalization analysis of MFN2 localization in mitochondria. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue), MFN2 protein was labeled with Alexa Fluor 488 (green) and mitochondrial membrane protein TOMM20 was labeled with Alexa Fluor 594 (red) (scale bar, 10 µ m). n=3, * P<0.05 vs. NC. DRP1, dynamin-related protein 1; MFN2, Mitofusin-2; ZEB1, zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1; NC, negative control; sh, short hairpin.

Article Snippet: The primary antibodies used were as follows: Anti-β-Actin antibody (1:5,000; cat. no. 81115-1-RR; Proteintech Group, Inc.), anti-ZEB1 antibody (1:1,000; cat. no. ab203829; Abcam), anti-MFN2 antibody (1:5,000; cat. no. ab124773; Abcam), and anti-DRP1 antibody (1:5,000; cat. no. 5391; Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.).

Techniques: Confocal Microscopy, Labeling, Western Blot, Expressing, Knockdown, Standard Deviation, Immunofluorescence, Staining, Membrane, Binding Assay, Negative Control