Fig. 6

Fig. 6

Treatment with sodium valproate (valproate) induces activity of the autophagy pathway in transgenic MJD zebrafish and human ataxin-3 expressing HEK293 cells. A Immunoblots of 6 dpf EGFP-Ataxin-3 84Q zebrafish treated with either valproate or vehicle control were probed with several markers of the autophagy pathway. Quantification of B beclin-1, C p62 and D LC3-II each revealed a significant increase with valproate treatment (*p = 0.014, p = 0.029 and p = 0.026 respectively, n = 3–6). E) Valproate treatment of HEK293 cells expressing Ataxin-3 84Q resulted in similar p62 levels, but increased LC3II levels. Quantification of these substrates revealed F p62 was not significantly different between valproate and vehicle treatment (p = 0.518) whilst G LC3II levels were significantly different for valproate compared to vehicle treated (p = 0.031, n = 4). Comparisons between vehicle and valproate treatment were compared using unpaired student t-tests