Journal: International Journal of Biological Sciences
Article Title: DHCR24 Deficiency Drives Age-Related Meibomian Gland Dysfunction by Regulating Lipid Metabolic Imbalance and Cytosolic mtDNA-Induced cGAS-STING Activation
doi: 10.7150/ijbs.129636
Figure Lengend Snippet: Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated DHCR24 overexpression reverses ocular surface pathology in Dhcr24 conditional knockout (cKO) mice. ( A ) Experiment timeline for AAV treatment and ocular surface assessments. Two-month-old Dhcr24 -cKO and Dhcr24 fl/fl mice were injected with tamoxifen (TAM) for 7 days and raised for 2 weeks before intra-meibomian gland (MG) injection of AAV-vehicle or AAV-DHCR24, followed by a 3-month period before ocular phenotype evaluation. A separate group of two-month-old Dhcr24 -cKO mice was raised for 6 months post-TAM before undergoing the same AAV treatment and evaluation procedures. ( B ) Representative white light photos, fluorescein staining, Rose Bengal staining, and upper tarsal plate images for Dhcr24 fl/fl , young Dhcr24 -cKO (3m), and aged Dhcr24 -cKO (9m) with AAV-vehicle or AAV-DHCR24 treatment. Arrows pointing to truncated or absent MGs. ( C - F ) Ocular surface and MG scoring in the treatment groups, including ( C ) corneal opacity score ( n = 5), ( D ) corneal fluorescein staining score ( n = 5), ( E ) Rose Bengal staining score ( n = 5), and ( F ) clinical MG score ( n = 5). ( G ) Oil Red O staining of upper tarsal plate sections in the different treatment groups, with circles indicating absent MGs. Scale bars: 200 μm. ( H ) Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining comparing the Dhcr24 -cKO mice treated with AAV-vehicle and AAV-DHCR24. Scale bars: 50 μm. ( I ) Immunofluorescence (IF) staining and ( J ) relative fluorescence intensity of STING for young Dhcr24 -cKO (3m) and aged Dhcr24 -cKO (9m) treated with either AAV-vehicle or AAV-DHCR24. Scale bars: 50 μm. ( K-M ) Relative mRNA expression of ( K ) interleukin-6 (IL-6), ( L ) interleukin-17 (IL-17), and ( M ) tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in mouse MGs of Dhcr24 -cKO (3m) and Dhcr24 -cKO (9m) following AAV-vehicle or AAV-DHCR24 treatment.
Article Snippet: Mouse MG cryosections were permeabilized (0.1% Triton X-100), blocked with 5% BSA, and incubated with primary antibodies against KRT14 (Bioss; #bsm-52054R), DHCR24 (Bioss; #bs-5390R), IL-6 (Proteintech; 21865-1-AP), IL-17 (Bioss; #bs-1183R), TNF-α (Proteintech; #17590-1-AP), NF-κB p65 (Abcam; #ab32536), phospho-NF-kB p65 (S536) (Abcam; #ab76302), and STING (Proteintech; #19851-1-AP) overnight.
Techniques: Virus, Over Expression, Knock-Out, Injection, Staining, Immunofluorescence, Fluorescence, Expressing